


From Ninja to Pirate

by noelicoan



Category: Naruto, One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, F/M, Female Uzumaki Naruto, Gen, Neglect, Original Character(s), Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:33:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 36
Words: 60,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23928448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noelicoan/pseuds/noelicoan
Summary: Life can be difficult, hard and painful. Who am I kidding? Most of you probably have already experienced first-hand, all the difficulties, hardships and pains in life that I talk of, so rather than listen to me teach the lessons on how you should stay strong and look forward to the good things, I think you'd much rather prefer me to just get on with my story, and that's exactly what I'll do.My name was Uzumaki Naruto. I was a genin of the hidden village of the leaves, and the team-mate of Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura. My parents were the Fourth Hokage and the Jinchuuriki of the nine-tailed fox before me, and I was what people called, a failure.But now, the story has reversed. No more failure. No more Naruto. No more ninja.I am Akagami D. Natsuki, a girl who challenges the world, in the era of pirates!
Relationships: Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks & Uzumaki Naruto, Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace & Sabo, Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace & Sabo (One Piece) & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 2
Kudos: 81





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> All credits go to Oda Eiichiro and Kishimoto Masashi for writing One Piece and Naruto. 
> 
> Though the characters I have created, they all belong to me.
> 
> Also, I hope you comment as much as possible! Any pointers to mistakes I made, or simply your feelings on the story written in words would be great!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When the twilight foretells of darkness,  
> Then shall the candle burn  
> And I await the spirit of magic  
> With the hope it will return.  
> I hearken closely unto the silence  
> And thereof the voice within,  
> For the spirit speaks unto me  
> And tasks upon my pen.
> 
> When the bewitching hour is chiming  
> I yet dwell in the candlelight,  
> For the shadows have lured me to a world  
> That only thrives at night;  
> And so I hearken unto the silence,  
> Tho' it be colder than the grave,  
> Yet the spirit there comforts me  
> And provides me line and stave.
> 
> When this my room be deathly dark  
> My candle comes alight  
> And I toil silently nigh the shadowy form  
> That only comes at night;  
> For when the silence encroaches upon me  
> And thus the voice within,  
> The spirit relates to me the mystical words  
> That move my lyrical pen.
> 
> -R.L. McCallum

Life can be difficult, hard and painful. Who am I kidding? Most of you probably have already experienced first-hand, all the difficulties, hardships and pains in life that I talk of, so rather than listen to me teach the lessons on how you should stay strong and look forward to the good things, I think you'd much rather prefer me to just get on with my story, and that's exactly what I'll do.

My name was Uzumaki Naruto. I was a genin of the hidden village of the leaves, and the team-mate of Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura. My parents were the Fourth Hokage and the jinchuuriki of the nine-tailed fox before me, and I was what people called, a failure.

I grew up, in a town with ninjas, with weapons being lodged into the walls a daily occurrence. In that world I survived alone, wondering who my parents were, and the reason why people avoided me. I didn't have a name, not that I knew of, and not a single person bothered to tell me the ways of life. So, imagine my surprise when I see the Hokage and his wife walk past me, waving at the citizens with smiles on their faces, until they see me, and I see them.

They gasped in horror, and Lady Kushina let a tear fall. The villagers had told my parents that I was dead, and I only came to know that later in my life.

"Naruto? Is that you?'' The voice came from the blond-haired man.

I stared at his face, then turned around, then at the people around me.

"Are you talking to me?" I remember asking. They both nodded, and I looked at them once more. He had blond hair and blue eyes, with tan skin and the title of Hokage on his coat and hat. She had bright red hair, brown eyes with a tint of purple, fair skin, with her hand on her mouth, trapping the sob about to escape.

"We are. Do you have a name?"

"No. Most people just call me demon." Lady Kushina looked down and Lord Minato had a dark gleam in his eyes.

"Well, from today your name is Naruto, okay?"

"Like the ramen topping?''

"No, like a maelstrom." I nodded. I liked that name at the time. It brought a smile to my face every time someone called me by it.

"Naruto, would you like to come with us and live with us as our son?" Minato asked. I was so happy when he said that. I felt like my heart was going to burst. If I had known better, I would've stabbed the heart of mine which did that, but I was ignorant then.

"Yes!!" Was my reply at the time. The people who had gathered around us had their jaws on the floor, their eyes popped out of their sockets and their hair standing on end. Still one of the funniest things I remember.

* * *

So, the years went on, and I was the new son of the Fourth Hokage. Responsibilities grew, expectations grew, though worst of them all was that the hate from the villagers grew.

When I failed my genin exam the first time, my parents dismissed it as stress. The second time, they started to get slightly worried, and the third time, well I guess it's safe to say that the neglect they would show to me in the future had begun.

They began to forget my existence like one would with an old classmate, they began to forget the promise they made when they signed the adoption papers, to look after me and care for me. Though when they forgot, the villagers remembered.

I was safe for the first thirteen years of my life, but my protection seemed to have an expiry date, because the fourteenth year, my torture began.

It was raining on the first day they ganged up on me. I remember I was helpless against the adults, with knives and flames, one even had a fork, but anything was a weapon if you were strong enough.

No one questioned the scars on my body, the bruises on my face, the blood on my clothes. Dismissing it as a prank gone wrong, they oversaw it all, simply using nonsense as their shield against common sense.

The sun shone brightly on a summer's blue sky when I joined team seven, a girl with pretty pink hair and a boy with pale white skin, a teacher with a mask and a perverted orange book. Not for long though, because how can life be called life if it stayed easy?

My torture worsened and I heard thunderstorms above when I could no longer keep up with my friends in the team, who had families to teach them, the do's and the don'ts. They were still oblivious to my scars and wounds, the fact that there were no more pranks recently seemed to go in one ear and escape from the other.

On my fifteenth birthday, things changed. My parents began talking to me again, the torture subsided, I got some training done, and I was back on track, though that was the night when I heard them talk.

"He must be banished! Look at how much trouble he has caused!" I frowned at my mother. 

"Kushina, we can't be sure yet. Give it another year before the demon reveals its true self." Minato replied, and my face sunk.

Of course, they didn't adopt me as their child. They only took the roles of parents to keep check on the demon sealed within me. I looked at my stomach and whispered softly.

"They care about you more than me. Aren't you lucky Kurama?" I heard him grunt an apology, but I dismissed it, intending to get more out of the conversation.

"Have you practised the jutsu you will use when he does go berserk?"

"Yes. He'll be gone forever."

"To where though?"

"I can't be sure. This jutsu sends people to random universes, we can never be sure."

"Well, it's their problem once he's there."

"Not ours anymore! We'll finally be free from that burden!" That was when I fully snapped for the second time.

Kurama was unleashed, and now that was satisfying. The jutsu which Kushina had prepared for me was used, and that was the story of my life until now, where I've been taken to a world completely opposite my own, in a body, opposite my own as well.

One thing I did know, which I couldn't tell whether good or bad, was that Kurama was gone, meaning that I would be alone; though the good thing was, that would mean he was released in Konoha, yet again, this time without a container.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope one day  
> You give your heart  
> To someone  
> And they will hold it tight  
> As if it's their own.
> 
> I hope one day  
> You wake up  
> And have something  
> Or someone to live for
> 
> I hope one day  
> You can go to bed  
> Smiling without a worry  
> In the world
> 
> I hope one day  
> The battle is over and  
> And you've won
> 
> I hope one day  
> You meet someone  
> Who makes you realise  
> How beautiful  
> You truly are.
> 
> -n.v.

Wondering around, I tried to swallow the truth that I was alone, in the woods, in an alternate universe. There was no sign of life at first glance, but as I focused, I began to see the hidden birds, the camouflaged insects, a roar of a tiger from a mile away.

My stomach growled, and I saw a tree, with giant red apples looking juicer than ever.

I stared at the apple in my hands, then observed the world. Why was everything tilted? 

The world wasn't tilted. I was. I looked at my feet firmly stuck to the bark of the tree. 

Then, out of curiosity, I mumbled my shadow clone technique, and to my surprise, my clone appeared. She had bright blue eyes and a thin tall nose, red hair which reached the middle of her back. The clone smiled at me, and I could see that she had a warm and kind look to her. She was slightly tall for a girl her age and wore a black shirt with red shorts and a pair of leather sandals.

I kept analysing the girl until I remembered. This was me.

Taking in my new physique, I tried using different jutsus which I remembered when I was young, even tried mimicking the ones I saw other people do.

To my surprise, I could actually do ninja techniques for once in my life, then thought for a few seconds.

In my last life, I was a boy, who was worthless and stupid, with parents who were told they had no son, when they finally found me and adopted me, only to forget about me once more.

In this life, however, I was a girl who seems to be able to do jutsus, and if it were entirely the opposite of my last life, have parents who cared for me.

The chances were low, but I heard my heart beat faster when a man's voice yelled a girl's name.

"Natsuki! Where are you? Natsuki!" Oh, how I hoped he was calling for me. The man then appeared from behind a tree, looking straight at me. His face stern at first, then breaking into a smile.

"There you are princess! Where have you been! Daddy and his crew were worried you know?" I knew my mouth was lifting up its edges to a grin, and I jumped into the man's arms. He smelt faintly of the sea.

And then, I promptly fainted.

I dreamt of a woman with pitch black hair and hawk-like eyes in the same shade as mine.

The woman danced with the man whom had called me a princess, with clashing swords and a flirtatious smile. 

Then the dream changed. It showed an official looking man, with stern eyebrows and a fire in his eyes. His hands burned like magma as he glared at the woman like she had spat in his meal. 

Her sword met his molten fist, the red haired man holding a bundle in his arms. 

"NO!!" 

The woman fell to the ground with the grace of a lily. Then the man of magma stamped on the flower and crushed the life out.

The two men stared at each other, and with an overwhelming presence of a king, the officials crumpled, one by one.

A man with a cigarette placed a hand on his shoulder, and the red haired man turned around.

"Shanks. The child." 

"I know, Benn. I know."

The grip on the bundle so strong that the child shifted in her sleep.

"Mark my words Akainu. You will regret this. One day you will watch the world burn. And for once the flames will not quell to your will. For once the flames shall eat you whole, and whoever watches you burn, can look on without remorse." 

His eyes burned with unshed tears of his lover's death, and he gazed into the darkness,

right into her eyes and-

"Natsuki!! Are you alright!?"

I blinked my tears away, and saw the man in her dream. A decade or so older, but the wrinkles next to his eyes still prominent from smiles.

"I wasn't, but I will be." 

There was a flurry of knocks to the door and the other man in her dream rushed in, what seemed to be the ever-present cigarette still in his mouth.

"Shanks! Did she wake up?"

"Yeah! Go on Natsuki, go comfort your uncle Benn." I smiled at the man lightly, and his tense shoulders slacked the bare minimum. 

Turning back to the red-head, who continued to gaze at her like she was fissured glass, I saw the circles under his eyes, his smiles fake to everyone except me, faking his mental strength, hiding his true face, masking it with power.

From that moment I knew, that I was meant to save my father, so that one day, he would wake up and have something to live for, so that one day, he would fall asleep without a worry in the world, so that one day, when the battle was over and he had won, he would have someone to celebrate with.

I was pulled onto the ship by my father's men, and my life as a pirate's daughter started, as the daughter of Shanks, the red-haired pirate. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The teardrops run down,  
> And fall off his nose,  
> He cries in dark corners,  
> Where nobody goes,  
> You can follow the tracks,   
> From his eyes to his chin,  
> Years upon years,  
> Of letting them win,   
> And his eyes tell a story,  
> Of anger and pain,   
> You think that he's happy,   
> But just look again,   
> And the scars of his past,  
> Hidden under his clothes,   
> Are a road map to places,   
> That nobody knows,  
> His smile is now painted,  
> He's a master of disguise,  
> And you can see it all,  
> Just look into his eyes.
> 
> -e. h

It has been three years since Natsuki came to the world of pirates. She was kept hidden for her entire life, but that didn't mean she couldn't get any training in.

Her father was nearly back to how he used to be before, though time to time he would drown himself in alcohol.

Her family, as she liked to call her crew, were teachers on her survival when she grew up. Benn taught her history and how to wield haki. The history of the world she wasn't truly born in. This fascinating world filled with mutated chakra users, and a version of Killing Intent divided into three versions that she had to train in daily.

Yasopp taught her ways with a gun, by the age of twelve, she could get nine out of ten shots on the bulls eye, it seemed as though it was because her skills with kunai and shuriken throwing was pretty bad in her past life, since this was a world of opposites.

Rockstar taught her ways in daily chores, since he was still a rookie on the ship, he had to do most chores. Natsuki would help him, though with Rockstar being a perfectionist, he would teach her the correct ways on how to clean wooden floor-boards and glass windows, etcetera.

Lucky Roo taught her the ways of a pirate, how one shouldn't hold a weapon without responsibility, and one should never threaten someone's life without a purpose. He emphasised these points, as it seemed his only son and wife died in the hands of another pirate who was a novice at using a gun, and accidentally killed them.

So Natsuki was sculpted slowly and carefully, in the hands of her family, as a strong and smart young lady. She was more tom-boyish because of living in an environment without a single woman, as well as her past-life being a man, but nobody cared. You wouldn't survive in this world without being even a little bit manly. Not that women couldn't be strong of course, her mother was a perfect example of this, but in the ocean where men dominated, women were sadly set standards by them.

One day, after a battle with another pirate ship, Natsuki was said to be finally allowed to fight with them, with the consent of Benn. Though he offered a price.

"Natsuki. I know how hard you've been working for these three years, and I'm proud to say that you'll probably be able to hold your own ground against at least fifteen novice marines. So as a reward, you can fight with us from now on, though be careful, since this will be the first time for you to take a human's life, and first kill is always the hardest." Benn advised, and Natsuki thought back to her past life, slightly guilty that she hadn't told her family about being a ninja. This wouldn't be her first kill if she counted being Naruto, since she had killed one person, that person being Mizuki, her teacher who hated her as Naruto.

"Yes Benn. I understand."

The next day, Red Scar: their ship was attacked by another marine ship, and Natsuki cracked her knuckles, awaiting her fight with people who didn't know her power, thus underestimating her.

"CHARGE!" The middle commander yelled, seemingly the man of highest position there. His small fleet did as commanded, and jumped on deck, but the crew were already waiting for them.

Natsuki got out two guns and shot each of her eight bullets in her twin revolvers.

They all hit home, and sixteen people lay dead on deck. Her family stared at her, her face hard and motionless, void of empathy. A tear slid down her face as she continued to go around, this time with her sword, cutting down the marines until, with the help of her crew, the only one remaining was the middle commander.

"Mercy! Have Mercy" He whimpered. A hundred of his men were wiped out in less than five minutes, out of them, thirty were killed by a small girl, the rest didn't seem to be even trying.

"If we had mercy, this would've been a marine ship, not a pirate ship." Shanks said and the commander was dead.

They raided the ship and found a peculiar fruit with swirls and curls all over it. It was purple in colour, and Shanks identified it with a label on the box it was in.

"The gum gum fruit. How rare." He took it with him, whilst Natsuki sat down, her adrenaline pumping, vision blurry, sweating like a pig.

"Are you alright Natsu?" Roo asked, giving her a portion of his meat to her.

"Fine, I'm fine. Just a bit tired... Can I go take a nap?"

"Of course you can. Go up to your room. We'll wake you up when it's dinner time." Benn said, and Natsuki tottered up the stairs to her and her father's room.

The men looked at her proudly. Their little girl had just whipped thirty percent of the marine's asses, who wouldn't be proud?

Benn was slightly worried. He tended not to be wrong when it came to an estimate of power. With the amount of training she received, she shouldn't have been able to kill twenty, let alone thirty.

Over the years, he had picked up on a few things about the girl, how she would be watching her father from afar, a sad look in her eyes, how it seemed that there were two or three of them on board, how she would sometimes yell, 'dattebayo!', which made no utter sense.

He had a thought that she was perhaps hiding something from them, but using his observational haki, he knew this wasn't an impostor. He decided to knock on the girl's door, wanting to confirm his doubts.

"Who is it?" a voice called as he knocked.

"It's Benn."

"Come in! Come in!" Came her quick reply, "What's the matter? Is it the battle today?"

"Partly yes, partly no. Natsuki. I know you're hiding something." Benn was not a man who would beat around the bush, and a response was seen in her demeanour immediately.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, her eyes swimming, mouth whistling innocently, her fingers muddling with each other.

"You're a terrible liar. Got to work on that Natsu."

"I know... So, what do you want to know?"

"Why do you watch over Shanks?"

"Because he's my father... but I suppose that's not the answer you want. I'll get to answering that question in a second, I'm sure the other questions you have for me will connect to it. Though before I get to it, can you call him? I want to tell Dad as well." Benn nodded and focused on his captain's haki. He sent his own haki against his, and Shanks was alerted.

"What's wrong!? What are you two doing here?"

"Dad, Benn, there's something I need to tell you guys."

"Did you get your period!? What! What is it!?" Natsuki and Benn groaned. Perhaps it would've been better if he wasn't there...

"No, I haven't dad. There's something I've been keeping from you for three years. Do you believe in second lives?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lie is black, the truth is white.   
> A lie is wrong, the truth is right.   
> Then why frown at a lie for justice?  
> Why sneer at a truthful prejudice?
> 
> The truth scars, a lie wounds.   
> The truth avoids, a lie intrudes.
> 
> Would you rather, in this life,  
> Live in peace or rather strife.   
> Strife made by truth, peace made by lies.   
> Living as you listen to the echoes of cries.
> 
> Would you rather, in this life,   
> Die with a smile or laugh with a knife,  
> Though how can you tell, that the weapon was held by a lie,  
> With what can you tell, that the truth would always comply.
> 
> So we continue to live, never doubting the truth that holds a gun,  
> As we ignore the lie, that hurts none.
> 
> -noelicoan

"So, reincarnations? That sort of thing?"

"Kind of. Not quite right though. You see, I am not your Natsuki. I came to this world when I was nine, the Natsuki you knew for nine years before I came is a completely different person."

"Wha-" Shanks started but was interrupted by a cough from his first mate, who gestured for Natsuki to continue.

"In my last world, I was a ninja called Uzumaki Naruto. I was born to a man named Namikaze Minato and his wife, Uzumaki Kushina, who were leaders of our ninja village, the village hidden in the leaves. The place was located in the fire kingdom, of the elemental nations, which had four more kingdoms, Wind, Water, Earth and Lightning. Each had a leader called a kage, who is a ninja who has reached the level highest amongst all ninjas, and each had a village to lead, the fire one, as I said, hidden in the leaves, Water, was a village hidden in the waterfalls, Wind has a hidden village of the sand, Earth, a village hidden in the rocks, and Lightning had a village hidden in the clouds. Get it so far?"

Benn and Shanks both nodded, so she continued.

"My father, the Hokage and his wife were expecting a baby: me, but it wasn't going to be an easy birth, because Kushina had a beast sealed with jutsus in her body. When she was in labour, the beast could break out easily, because the seals would weaken along with Kushina's body.

A villainous ninja wanted to use this as an advantage to steal the beast, and when Kushina gave birth safely, he took me, saying that to get me back, Kushina must offer the beast to him. Kushina did as requested, and the villain forced the beast to go on a rampage, though he lost control of the beast, causing the beast to break free.

Seeing the chance, the Hokage before my father, the third Hokage, offered his soul to seal the beast once more. This time into a new born, the Fourth Hokage and his wife's son, myself. When the beast was sealed in, the ninjas who were fighting against the angry beast, took out their anger for the beast who stole their loved one's lives on me, and hid me from my parents.

They told the couple a lie, saying that I had died together with the beast, the first two years they tried to hunt me down, but they soon forgot, leaving me on the streets, forcing me to fend for myself from a young age.

On the tenth year, when I was sitting by a tree, the Hokage and his wife were visiting the poor, and they found me. They took me in after realising the villagers lied to them and raised me as their son."

She took a breath, and the two adults processed the words in their heads.

"Everything was fine again, until the entrance exam to the ninja academy. I failed the exam to get in three times, and I guess I just wasn't 'elite' enough to be the Hokage's son, because the Hokage and his wife slowly forgot about me, and soon the villagers began to torture me.

Things got better after I entered the academy, though I stayed stupid because my parents didn't teach me anything, whilst the others learnt quickly. After two years, I failed my graduation exam, and when I was alone, a kind teacher told me that if I stole a scroll of forbidden jutsus, I would pass my exam. Ecstatic, I stole the scroll from my father's office, and decided to read over some of the jutsus, and at the time, I only learnt one, which was the shadow clone technique, where you can make a clone which had a physical body. Though would burst if the physical contact was too strong.

Later that night, I found out, that what I had done was treason, thus giving a reason for my father and the others to punish me. The teacher who made me steal got away with it, because my word against his, was nearly nothing."

Her father growled, haki making the atmosphere tense. Benn patted Shanks' shoulder, though it came more as a strong slap, which Shanks in his anger-stricken state could not feel.

"More years went by, and the Hokage's teacher decided to come and teach me. I thought that I would finally be taken seriously, but the first thing he did was drop me off a cliff, so that I could 'channel the demon's power', though I seriously doubt it. Thankfully, the demon beast, sympathised with me, and told me the truth about my parents, whom I assumed were just my adoptive ones, and the reason I was treated that way, and we became friends. He saved me whenever I was nearly dead, and I saved him when any particular comment from the villagers hurt him.

Later, when I was fourteen, I had a big chance, the teacher who made me steal the scroll was up to no good again, and I killed him. My first kill.

Though when I became fifteen, my parents got kinder again. It was almost creepy. One day, I overheard their conversation, saying how they had a jutsu to use if I went on a rampage, which would send me to an alternate dimension. They obviously thought that the beast had become me or had consumed me. After hearing their plan, which caused me to snap, they were forced into using the technique, and Kurama; the demon beast stayed behind, possibly on a rampage.

I woke up in the woods, in a different body, with the abilities of a ninja still with me, but better at it than I ever was in the ninja world. That's when I found you, dad, looking for me, and I knew, that this was the complete opposite of my past life.

I was now in a world of pirates, leaving the world of ninjas behind, now a girl, when I was a boy. Now with a family when I had none, properly loved unlike before." She finished telling her story, looking up to the two men, who had shadowed expressions, both trying to hide their quite obvious anger.

"How dare they hurt our Natsu!" Shanks finally growled, causing her to blink. They weren't angry at her! Her body felt like jelly when she sunk into her bed, tears brimming her eyes.

"Are you alright!" Benn immediately asked, mamma mode on.

"I'm j-just, s-so happy, and relieved, a-and... th-thank you." The two men smiled, and a few minutes after she had calmed down, Benn decided to ask some of the questions which weren't answered by her story.

"So, is that why I sometimes seem to see about three of you, in three completely different parts of the ship?"

"Yeah. I wanted to practice my shadow clone technique, and some of my ninjutsu, but the memories of my clones can't be seen until they're destroyed, so they each work individually. So after they pop, I would scold myself because I said hello to you three or four times in a row..." She admitted.

"Why do you sometimes say 'dattebayo'?"

"Oh, that's a verbal tic which comes from my mother." She said, causing Shanks to look down.

"Final question. Why do you always watch out for Shanks?" The red-haired man looked up, and his daughter blushed.

"Well, dad always had a sad smile which seemed fake, so I would do my best to try and get him to be more open, because I didn't want him to be sad like I was before." Shanks looked at his daughter, a soft smile adorning his lips at his daughter's show of kindness.

"Can you show these jutsus which you know? It's still quite hard to believe."

"Already am." Her body popped, and another Natsuki appeared from the inside of the cupboard, then a tall man and a lady with red hair walked out of the cupboard as well. Then came out a small fox with nine-tails.

"This is another jutsu. The henge, where we can transform our bodies to look like something else. This is the Hokage and his wife, and this little fox is the much smaller version of my best friend, Kurama!" Shanks' glint in his eyes strengthened, though remembering the fact that this was his daughter's body in another form, forced him to stop himself from punching them.

Natsuki sighed and the two people and fox popped. The rest of the afternoon was spent with Natsuki explaining her powers to Benn, who seemed to have an endless amount of questions, when Joey, who was on look out, shouted to the crew.

"Dawn island in sight! Dawn island!" 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They fuck you up, your mum and dad.  
> They may not mean to, but they do.  
> They fill you with the faults they had  
> And add some extra, just for you.
> 
> But they were fucked up in their turn  
> By fools in old-style hats and coats,  
> Who half the time were soppy-stern  
> And half at one another's throats .
> 
> Man hands on misery to man.  
> It deepens like a coastal shelf.  
> Get out as early as you can,  
> And don't have any kids yourself.
> 
> -Philip Larkin

They arrived at the port of an island which seemed to have thousands of windmills on the hills, with a house next to each one. The small but homely village they saw was called Foosha village, and Natsuki felt excitement bubble inside her.

It had been quite a while since she set foot on solid ground, and Natsuki wanted to stretch her legs.

She leapt into her father's arms and her family walked to a bar. Many people would've frowned at the fact that a young girl was let inside a bar, but she was actually used to it, since her family were big drinkers.

"Makino-san, long time no see." Her father said to a girl with dark green hair, wiping the counter.

"Shanks-san! I haven't seen you in a long time! How are you!"

"Last time I met you was when you were quite small wasn't it? When I came back after the Roger Pirates disbanded. You were only nine back then. So, another ten years has it been?"

"Yes. That sounds about right. Are you alright? I heard that Tomomi-san..." Her voice died down and Shanks looked down. Natsuki rubbed her father's arms, comforting her father who was reminded of her mother. She jumped out of his arms and landed on the ground, looking up to the lady.

"Hello! My name is Natsuki! I'm Shanks and Tomomi's daughter!" She introduced herself as loudly as possible, gaining laughter from the rest of her family, and a smile from her father.

"Nice to meet you Natsuki-chan. I'm Makino. I'm the owner of the Party's bar."

Another hour or so later, a small boy entered the bar.

"Makino! Lunch!" He yelled, sitting at the counter next to Shanks.

"Are those the manners you show to the person who prepares you food?" Shanks asked the boy who sat down.

"Sorry Makino, please?"

"Of course Luffy." She said with a smile.

"Who are you! I've never seen you around here before!" The boy shouted again.

"We're pirates."

"Pirates!? My grandpa doesn't like pirates. He tells me to become a marine just like him." Shanks' eyebrows furrowed. The loud voice and rude attitude, reminded him of someone, and the hate for pirates only emphasised the point.

"Is your grandfather Garp by any chance?"

"Yeah! How did you know!"

"I come from this village you see. He would often kick my butt whenever I played pranks on him."

"Really! What do pirates do?"

"Fun!" Shanks exclaimed, and he and Luffy began to talk about pirates. Every time Shanks told a lie just to show off, Natsuki would nudge his side, causing her father to yelp in surprise. Luffy simply took note that a pirate yelps while he talks.

Makino talked with Natsuki, who learned more about her mother from the older woman. At the end of the day, the pirates had drunk the place dry, and Shanks gave Makino three bars of solid gold as a payment, which Makino gladly accepted.

"See you later Luffy, we've got to go."

"Will I see you soon?"

"We'll come back tomorrow. See you then if you want." Shanks waved his straw hat at Makino and Luffy, who waved back.

Luffy stared at the red headed girl who was out of his sight until then, hidden behind her father. He somehow could not find the connection between the girl and the man, even though there were the only two out of them all who had bright red hair. He wondered why on earth a girl was with pirates, and wished he could join his new hero.

Luffy went home, back to Ace, Sabo and his tree-house, ready to tell them a tale.

* * *

The next day, Luffy vowed to talk to the girl, and why she was with the other pirates, but he didn't find her amongst the pirates.

"Where's that girl with red hair?" He asked his new friend.

"Ah, Natsuki? She's gone off to the woods. She was complaining about how she only got to talk yesterday, without doing any exploring."

"Why is she with you guys?"

"Because she's my daughter." Luffy was surprised with his answer.

"I thought the only pirate with a child was the pirate king!!" He held his mouth immediately, remembering that he promised Ace not to tell a soul.

"Ah, Captain Roger's son? Ace was his name wasn't it." Luffy's eyes widened.

"How do you know!?" So Shanks went on to tell his tales of adventure as the crew of the former pirate king. This time with no one to jab him in the ribs when he told a lie.

Meanwhile, Natsuki was doing as she said she would. She was stretching her legs by running around in fields of wheat. She walked up a hill covered in trees, jumping around the bushes and hanging onto the vines, howling with joy as she swung around, but she came to a stop when she felt two presences.

Her haki control was improving, but she still couldn't grasp it properly, so she had no idea who was there, only the fact that there _were_ people there.

She crept on silent foot towards them, and found a boy with black hair and freckles, wearing a red T-shirt with words which read 'Stupid' on the front. The other one was also a boy, who had buzz-cut blond hair which was curled on its short tips. He wore what looked to be a small blue suit and a giant top-hat with goggles on them. They each held a pipe as if it were a weapon, and were sneaking up on a sleeping lion.

They jumped on it with surprising strength and agility, hitting it with their pipe repeatedly until it's flame of life slowly died out.

They carried it uphill, and Natsuki followed them to a tree house. She gasped quietly, but it was enough to alert the boys.

"Who's there!?"

Natsuki slowly stood up, her red hair falling into her face.

"Who are you!?"

"Don't you know it's rude to ask someone's name without telling your own?" The two boys looked at each other, silently debating whether they should do as they were asked to.

"Alright. My name's Ace." Said the boy with black hair.

"I'm Sabo. Now, what's yours!?" the blond one asked.

"I'm Natsuki. I saw you kill the lion. You're pretty strong huh?"

"Well, you can say that, we killed a giant bear once you know!?" Sabo exclaimed, only to be hit on the head by Ace.

"Do you promise not to tell anyone about our tree house?" Ace demanded in a tone she didn't like.

"Only if you let me visit sometimes." She bargained. He groaned.

"This is why I hate girls. Always sticking their noses into people's business!"

"This is why I hate boys. Always whining about not wanting to share things." She mimicked him. Sabo sniggered and Ace shot him a glare.

"I give up. Alright, but you can only come at daytime okay? No sleepovers."

"Alright!" She jumped onto one of the lower branches, leaping higher and higher until she landed inside where there were neatly placed floorboards, making up a small room. The boys looked at her, surprised. They had half expected her to ask them if they could carry her up. That's what Luffy said anyway.

"How'd you do that!?" They asked her as they also climbed inside.

"Do what?"

"Climb up the tree so easily!"

"I was brought up with pirates! What did you expect!"

"Pirates!?" Ace's eyes darkened though Sabo's sparkled.

"Yeah. My dad's the captain of the ship! His name's Shanks!"

"Do you mean you're the daughter of that pirate Luffy was talking about yesterday?"

"Ah, you know Luffy?"

"Yeah. He's our friend. He built this place with us, though we did most of the work." Ace grumbled.

"He seems nice. He's got good friends." So whilst Luffy talked with Shanks, Ace and Sabo talked with his daughter, both groups becoming some of the greatest friends over a single day.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Natsuki asked, slightly unsure.

"Yeah! See you tomorrow!" Sabo smiled, Ace let out a grunt, which was all Natsuki expected from him after learning more about Ace. She jumped out of the small room, landing on the ground with a small thud.

She ran off, stopping once to wave at them.

Sabo and Ace watched her in awe. Just as Natsuki left, Luffy's voice was heard, yelling at them to take him up. Ace groaned about the little cry baby, but begrudgingly climbed down the tree, pulled Luffy into a piggyback and climbed back up.

Luffy then talked about Shanks as he did the day before, though this time, Sabo and Ace sometimes butted in, asking a few questions about Shanks' daughter.

Not that Luffy remembered much about anything other than Shanks' adventures. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fed up of stupid people  
> fed up surrounding myself with idiots  
> always bitching at each other  
> always knowing what it could cause but doing it anyway
> 
> not thinking  
> not using their brains  
> just doin ' it, knowing what it could cause and then wondering why
> 
> just idiots, stupid people  
> I'm staying out of this  
> I'm going to get drunk, throw up and pass out  
> I'd rather do that than sit here listening to a fight
> 
> don't act like the victim when it's your fault  
> you knew, but you did it anyway  
> I hate people  
> I hate the sight of them  
> I hate all of them  
> they all act like everything is about them
> 
> I know they're some people out there who don't act like this  
> if I could only find them  
> but I don't want to just in case we end up like the rest these people  
> selfish people, stupid people with no brain at all
> 
> get away from me  
> go back to this victim club that you're a member of  
> rip each other's heads off and don't involve me
> 
> the bar is closed  
> the bell has been sounded  
> I'm out, thank you everybody.
> 
> -Stephen Harry

Back on the ship, Shanks and Natsuki were telling each other their day, how interesting they found the boys, who seemed to have a special bond between each other. Natsuki thought of them as her younger brothers already, Shanks beginning to see Luffy as his son.

Shanks saw his happy daughter, eyes sparkling with excitement, and he began to think of a few options for her future.

He would be setting sail for the Grand-line soon, and he didn't want to take her to such a dangerous part of the world. Even if she was actually a ninja, who used to be a boy, and came from a different world, with fifteen years more experience than your average nine-year-old girl, he didn't want to let her come to such a dangerous part of the world. Not yet.

The next morning, when Shanks and his crew were back from the market, buying food and booze to last for another few months they found Luffy on board as well. He looked down from the ship's figure-head, as he tried to argue against Shanks, wanting a place on his ship.

"Never in a million years Luffy! You need to earn a place to get on board. A simple 'please' ain't going to cut it this time."

"If I have to earn my place..." Luffy got out a pocket knife... from his pocket, and let it hover in front of his left eye. Natsuki gaped, forcing her father to pay attention.

"Luffy! What are you-" His own yells were interrupted by Luffy yowling in pain.

"It didn't hurt at all", was what Luffy claimed afterwards, once more at Makino's bar. Natsuki sighed but became alert when a bunch of people in outfits looking like potato-sacks walked in, each holding a small pistol or a rather large sword.

"Give us booze." The man who seemed to be the leader demanded from Makino, who smiled apologetically, explaining how there was no more alcohol left.

"So what is it that these _pirates_ are drinking eh? Fruit juice?" He sneered.

"That's the problem sirs. That was all the alcohol we had." She bowed deeply, and Shanks spoke to the man next to him, who stood between him and Natsuki.

"It seems that we've drunk the place until the last drop, why not have this bottle? It's still unopened." He offered, giving his own wine-bottle, which is quite the act in the pirate world, to be offered alcohol from the captain was great honour.

The mountain bandit took the bottle and crashed it on Shanks' head, silence falling upon the bar, all that was heard was the dripping straw hat on Shanks' head.

Luffy jumped up, yelling profanities, until Makino rushed toward Shanks, offering a towel to wipe up when Shanks apologised to Makino for messing the shop.

"So you like cleaning? Then why don't I make it worth while!" The man tried to knock all the bottles on display when Natsuki stopped him. She held the tip of his blade, stopping it only moments before it hit a priceless, hundred-year-old rum bottle.

She scowled at the man, pushing the tip of the sword back at him, making him tumble slightly.

"That's expensive rum you were about to break there. Think before you act." She told him as he scuttled outside, like a cockroach after someone brought a shoe along.

There was another moment of silence, and the bar burst out laughing.

"Shanks just got owned by a bandit!"

"Natsuki will be captain if it goes on like this!"

"Did you see their faces!?, look at her go!"

"Why did you just let them go!? I thought you were a pirate! You're so not cool!!" Luffy complained and began to eat what was in a chest next to him.

"Wait, Luffy! What are you eating!?" Natsuki exclaimed when she saw the purple fruit. Shanks paid attention as well, his face falling.

"Spit it out! Throw it up!" He held Luffy's legs, tipping him upside down, shaking him to get the fruit out of his system. Though they knew it was too late when Luffy's legs stretched, his face hitting the floor, only to bounce back to his normal body again.

"Baka! Aho! Doji! Manuke! You idiot! What you just ate was the gum-gum fruit! A devil fruit which makes you a rubber man! It will never allow you to swim again!" Shanks said, still shaking him. To say Luffy was shocked would be an understatement. His eyeballs jumped out of their sockets, which seemed to be possible, since he was a rubber man...

As Luffy tried to learn how to control his new powers, Natsuki decided to deliver him to his other two friends.

Ace and Sabo just stared at Luffy who stretched his cheeks and laughed when they snapped back, as Natsuki tried to explain what had happened.

"So now we need to take care of him in the bath as well!?" came their reply to the whole matter, making her laugh.

"Yeah, I guess so." As the days before, Natsuki spent her time with Ace and Sabo, this time joined by Luffy as well, enjoying his commentary which was of him saying what seemed cool, and not cool, and how hungry he was.

Natsuki left that night after helping them hunt their dinner, today it was alligator meat, and Luffy whined, how he wanted to be with her more. Natsuki's smile had a hue of sadness in its shades. She promised for a next time, internally cringing at the hypocrisy of her words, since she was told that her family's crew was leaving port in two days.

She leapt out of the tree house, and dashed to the ship, this time not even stopping to wave goodbye. Running back, she ate her dinner in silence, Benn and Shanks slightly worried, though in their hearts, they understood. They just didn't want to let her go yet.

The next morning, they heard a loud yell, which could have only come from one person: Luffy.

"Darn you! You'd better take that back!! You jerk!" Luffy went on to yell some more, when the man who started the ruckus with Luffy smirked, telling his group of mountain bandits how he discovered a new life form.

"Maybe I'll sell you in a freak show, that ought to make me some money." He laughed.

Luffy grabbed a stick and tried to attack the man who was over four feet taller than him, but as what anyone would expect, the tall man kicked the stick out of the way, standing on Luffy's face.

"I was just drinking and talking to my men. I didn't say anything to offend you."

"Yes you did! You better apologise! Move your foot you stinking mountain ape!" What Luffy hadn't expected was the mayor to bow down, his head on the floor, apologising for the sake of Luffy's tardiness.

"Mayor! You don't have to apologise! It was their fault! They were the ones who insulted Shanks and Natsuki!"

"Quiet!" The Mayor shouted back. Luffy had caused enough trouble.

"Nice try old man, but you know how the world works, I'm afraid it's too late. No one can save this brat now." Shanks and Natsuki, as they were listening to this, were calling their family over, as well as walking towards Luffy, a gleam in both their eyes which intended murder.

"He's done the unpardonable. He attacked me, and called me names. I can't take that from this little rubber-spined freak!"

"YOU started this, bandit! You mountain macaque!"

"That does it. I'm not gonna sell you." He said, the Mayor's eyes brightening. Though the pirates knew better.

"I'm going to kill you." He smirked, brandishing his sword against his neck.

"That's enough bandit."

"Hmph, you pirates are still here? Taking a break from your cleaning duties?" The leader of the bandits stated, his smug voice disgusting everyone's ears, whilst Luffy squirmed on the ground, still unable to free the man's foot on his face.

One of his men spoke up as well, "I don't know what you want, but you better back off before you get hurt."

"Come any closer and we'll have to kill you cowards." A shadow loomed across more than one pirate's face. Shanks walked closer and closer to Luffy and ignored the man who pointed a gun to his head.

"Didn't you hear him!? Don't come any closer, or we'll blow your head off." The gang laughed stupidly, sniggering as if this whole situation were a joke.

"When you point a gun. You better put your life on the line." He told them.

"Huh? What'd you say?"

"I'm saying it's not safe to point guns." Lucky Roo aimed his gun, and with a bite of his meat, the man fell dead.

"Now you've gone and done it!"

"What've you done!?"

"That wasn't fair!"

"Fair?" Yasopp laughed.

"Stop whining land-lubbers! You're not dealing with saints here." Benn said with finality.

"We're pirates! I was quite sure that we were known for not following the rules." Natsuki mumbled as if explaining to a monkey with brains the size of a pea.

Her eyes still locked on Luffy, who seemed useless against the power of the man.

She swore to save him, not that he heard. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would I have chosen a house with riches  
> If I were to pick any home I want?  
> Just the image gives me creeps and itches  
> I wouldn't live to keep the thought.
> 
> To have received this place called home,   
> Is a blessing in itself;  
> The very reason why I don't have to roam,  
> In the alleys all by myself.
> 
> Of course there are some difficulties,  
> Telling loved ones how you feel,  
> Being called a typical teen,  
> You'd think wasn't part of the deal.
> 
> Though when you fall they stay with you.  
> When you cry they are there.  
> You feel better as they make you smile,  
> Such feelings are getting rare.
> 
> That's why you stay with them,  
> Or else you couldn't stand  
> Without the love that supports us
> 
> The emotions which weren't planned.
> 
> So no, I wouldn't choose another house, with riches for all I care.   
> Because if you knew my family, you know you wouldn't dare.
> 
> -noelicoan

"This was none of your business!" A now slightly frightened bandit said, legs jelly.

"Listen up... You can pour your drinks on me. You can throw your food at me. You can even spit at me. Most things I will just laugh off, but... Good reason or not, _nobody_ hurts a friend of mine." A single glare without haki was all it took to scare them out of their wits.

Letting out a loud laugh to hide his fear, the bandit complimented, saying how intimidating Shanks speech was, though if you listened carefully, you could hear the slight waver in his voice.

"You pirates spend your time floating around in your little ships, and think you can stand up to mountain bandits!? Don't make me laugh! Kill them!!!" He ordered, setting off all of his men, which were a total of thirty men. Benn stepped forward, but Natsuki stopped him, a gleam in her eyes, the blue orbs glowing in the shadow of her hair.

Benn sighed and stepped aside, though he still had his rifle at the ready just in case.

The men laughed, looking at her as if she were already dead. That was where they were wrong. She first got out her twin revolvers, but instead of shooting any bullets, she swung them around as if they were swords, knocking out ten as she hit their heads or necks. She then used her flexibility and acrobatics to somersault around the place, punching them in the gut and kicking them in the crotch. In another second, they all lay on the ground groaning. She pointed her revolver at the lone bandit's head, her stone glare still on his face.

Makino, the Mayor and the townsmen looking at them through their windows gaped at her strength.

Shanks looked at them smugly, proud that this strong little ball of energy was his daughter.

Benn smirked. "If you wanna fight us, you better bring a battleship."

"So strong..." Luffy said in awe.

"The brat started it!"

"Doesn't matter, you're a bounty head, aren't you?"

The man then rummaged in his pocket for a second, which Natsuki didn't allow. She jumped at him, but he caught her hand, a disgusting look passing in his eyes, as he threw a smoke bomb to the ground, the area instantly covered with it.

He then ran as quickly as he could, one girl and one boy each in his arms, to the sea where a small boat awaited.

"What a brilliant escape! Nobody would expect a mountain bandit to run to the sea! I brought you two as a hostage, though I may as well enjoy myself with the girlie." He rubbed his hands, licking his lips, the hurling look in his eyes again. Natsuki tried to free her hands from the ropes she was bound with, but she wasn't getting anywhere.

Luffy stood up, as he was free, trying to deliver his punch which was 'as strong as a pistol' but the man just looked at him, and kicked him off the boat, leering in on Natsuki, who squirmed against the ropes.

Natsuki's eyes pupils turned silver and a wave of pure willpower went crashing against the disgusting man.

She jumped in the water, her hands still tied, desperately trying to find Luffy beneath all the bubbles.

Panicking as the air slowly disappeared from her lungs, she went to the surface, when she found a giant sea king, the size of three warships, looking at her with gleaming yellow eyes.

She felt something with her foot, and with a difficult tug, she somehow managed to put Luffy's arms around her head using her mouth to drag his sleeves.

She awaited the wetness of the cavern of the monster's mouth to surround her, when she felt someone jump in front of them from quite far away. Another large wave of willpower rippled across the sea, and absolute silence followed.

She opened her eyes, her legs working hard to keep both of them afloat, when she saw her father with a smile on his face. He swam to them, and he patted her head, though he didn't do his usual hug.

A spreading red stain by his arm was seen, and Natsuki let out a strangled sob.

Luffy, who had woken up from the two unleashed waves of haki, told her that her nightmares were true.

"Shanks! Your arm!"

She sobbed once more, and Shanks untied her rope with his knife, holding her closely, though he couldn't hold the he both of them with just one arm.

Natsuki then saw how the blood red rose was blooming larger and larger on his white shirt, and unconsciously shunshinned the three of them back to the village, not thinking how she had done it.

She didn't care if they caught her in action. She had to stop the bleeding.

"...arm... blood... sew up... think... amputate..." incoherently she muttered, when she was found by her family.

Charley, their doctor came forward, quickly cleaning the wound, taking some of the flesh and muscle out to get enough skin to sew up.

As soon as the emergency operation had finished, Natsuki hugged her father close, crying loudly, her wails echoing in the now purple sky.

They all looked at the ground. His missing arm would stand as a memory, that they were not powerful at all. They still had yet to go.

Natsuki slept in her father's bed that night, tears still falling, and Shanks wiped it gently off her cheeks, deciding what he was reluctant to do until just a few hours back.

The next morning, Natsuki woke up to empty space. She hurriedly changed, and skipped down the stairs, when she heard a shout and the clang of metal from the kitchen.

"Watch what you're doing capt'n!!"

"I am!" He denied.

"Um, dad, what are you doing?"

"Making breakfast of course."

"For?"

"You." He flipped the omelette, and slid it onto ketchup rice, and placed it on the table, gesturing for her to go sit down. She took a bite. A tear rolled down and she took another. Water free falling down her face, she finished the dish, turning to her father.

"How?" It reminded her of something, it tasted like home. Something she never tasted before. Something which the first nine years she could never have, seemed to love.

"It was your mum's favourite. See? I'm fine Natsu. You don't need to look after me. I'll do fine on my own."

"Why will you be on your own?" She knew his answer. She just didn't want to admit it.

"Because you will be staying here until you are eighteen. Only when you're an adult will I allow you to come to the Grand line."

"My family is with you!" She denied.

"I saw you with those boys Natsu. You looked so happy. That is something I cannot simply give to you. You know it."

She shook her head sideways, then nodded, then shook it again.

"I don't want to."

"Really? I'll let yourself answer that one. We'll be sailing this afternoon. I won't force you to leave this ship, though I will guarantee, that you staying with us, will not get you strong as you would get strong if you stay here." She nodded, and headed to her room, where she shunshinned -something she let her clone practice during the night- to the forest where she first met her father.

After an hour of silence, replaying and fast-forwarding her life, she decided.

She appeared in front of her father and smiled.

"I'll stay dad. I'll get strong. So that one day I can be as strong as you."

"Don't get as strong as me. Get as strong as your mother. She was stronger than I ever will be."

"Tell me about mum in the future?"

"Of course. Now, stay healthy, safe, and don't date anyone without my consent okay?" Now Shanks started freaking. Why did he convince his daughter to leave!?

"I will dad. Now, see you later."

"See you later Natsuki." The two redheads hugged each other tightly, and Natsuki, kissed her father's cheek, where her chakra left an invisible seal on his skin. She did the same to all the members of her family, but on their heads as they crouched down.

"You are all under my protection. I'll come flying, but I can't save you for another year or so, because I'm not strong enough. So don't die for a year okay?" She left them all confused, and she looked at Benn. She kissed his forehead and placed the seal.

"Can you tell them for me?"

"Yes, if you promise to develop that seal so it can be transferred by something other than a kiss." Natsuki giggled, and she waved as they all jumped on deck, pulling and releasing ropes, setting their jolly roger free.

A scar on its left eye and two swords crossed behind it, the red haired pirates took off for the Grand line, leaving another red head, to train more years.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They say how you treat others tell your personality  
> And there will never be respect without humility  
> Good manners and politeness will define you differently  
> Because a person's a person, no matter how small they may be.
> 
> Speak up nicely when you have smart and valuable ideas  
> Have a broad mind to embrace our differences and uniqueness  
> Because a person's feeling could never be a solid rock  
> That you can throw over and over again, and never gets hurt.
> 
> The golden rule always tells its important lesson  
> Teaching us to value each and every creature  
> Because in the eyes of god, we are all His treasures  
> No one is perfect, but we are all valuable to the nation.
> 
> Respect is earned, and it will never be given  
> So treat others the way you want to be treated  
> You can always say it nicely, politely and humbly  
> Believe me, blessings will come your way indefinitely!
> 
> \- Alje Lomuntad

Natsuki watched as her ship left, slowly shrinking until it was swallowed by the horizon. Wiping away the last of her tears, she turned to Luffy, who had been there to send Shanks off, and noticed the straw hat on his head.

"Natsuki!? They forgot you behind!" In total shock, he stood there gaping like a fish.

"Luffy, I've decided to stay with you guys. Would you allow me to live with you guys?" She put his straw hat on his head, rather than hang it on his back, smiling fondly at him.

"You're staying with us!? Yay!!!" He immediately leapt onto her torso, wrapping his lengthy rubber arms around her waist, crushing her if it weren't for her years of training.

"Lu, tight... Crushing... Can't... Breathe..." After being released, she kissed his head in the middle of his obsidian tufts and promised to get stronger to one day protect him from harm as well.

"Let's go Natsu!" He ran off, a bright smile on his face, leaving her to run after him, the same smile on her face too.

"I thought you left with them." Ace said when he found her and Luffy in the tree house, chatting about their dreams.

"Nope! Here to stay until I'm eighteen!"

"Eighteen? I'll be leaving when I'm seventeen you know! One year earlier than you!" Sabo said, somewhat happy that he was older. Or that was what he thought.

"Haha, you think I'm your age? You two are eleven, right?"

"You're saying you're older?"

"Yeah. I'm twelve." The two looked at her sceptically,

"No you're not."

"Yes I am!"

"Then why are you the same height as us?" She rolled her eyes.

"You know my dad, Shanks? And Yasopp? Did you meet him?" Ace and Sabo shook their heads and she groaned. She then had an idea.

"What I'll show to you now is a secret that you mustn't tell anybody okay? If you do, many people will target me to try and get a hold of this power. So I may die at one point if you tell this secret okay? Especially you Luffy. I know how loose your lips are." Luffy covered his mouth and all three of them nodded simultaneously. She didn't sound like she was joking.

"I'm a kunoichi." Luffy's and Sabo's eyes sparkled with stars taking over their pupils.

"Can you ninja stuff!? Show us! Show us!!!" She smiled and disappeared, but with a cloud of smoke, in her place was her father, towering over the boys. She then changed into a lanky man with a slightly tall nose and blond dreadlocks, tight in a bandanna.

"This is Yasopp." Ace looked at her in a form of a man doubtfully. The man was quite shorter than Shanks but was still taller than the children. "He's older than dad." Ace stayed silent. So that was what she wanted to prove.

"So you're trying to say that just because we're tall, or you're short doesn't mean that we're the same age?" Ace looked at the man who transformed into a girl again, her cheeks puffed up. Slightly angry that he called her short.

She had met other girls in the village by accident, some around her age, and some older, but they were all shorter than her. Well, she did have a tall mother and father... Ace and Sabo were her height!

"What else can you do!?" Luffy asked, and Natsuki continued to show him the rasengan and some flame jutsus. Though when he asked her to make shadow clones after she told them about how she pranked her family by using the technique secretly, she could only make four kagebunshin.

She was slightly sad about it, as she was able to make so many before. Though that was the problem. In the world so different to her last life, she could do things Naruto couldn't, but things Naruto could do, she could not do as well as he could, though she was able to do some simple stuff which she used to be able to do, such as water-walking and tree-walking.

She looked at Luffy's disappointed face and began her story.

"I wasn't always bad at this technique you know. When I was older, I could make much more. You see, I wasn't always a girl. -" She started, and a few hours later, -Luffy kept interrupting- various screams were heard. Three from the tree house, another fifty from her family, a couple of hundred kilometres away. It seemed as though Benn just finished her story as well.

"Wow. So your name used to be Naruto? What did you look like?" She cast a henge on herself, and she found herself in a nostalgic body a few moments later. Her blonde hair spiky, her light blue eyes blazing, three whisker marks on each cheek. A metal plate proudly on her forehead.

"You look dumb." Ace muttered.

"I do, don't I? Maybe that's why they hated me..." She actually considered as she returned to her body. Sabo nudged him.

"What!?"

"That was rude."

"I'm just saying what I see."

"Well, that's why we have things called thoughts don't we? So we can keep those things private. If you really think so, then you don't have to hurt other people with your opinion." He said. Ace looked down and begrudgingly apologised.

"Oh no, it's fine. I know how dumb I was, so you were stating the truth."

"Just because it's the truth doesn't mean you should hurt someone with it." Sabo insisted, and Natsuki couldn't stop a tear from rolling down. All three boys began to panic. Garp had thoroughly taught them that making a girl cry was treason, punishable by death.

Their panic stopped when Natsuki smiled, her face still damp, but a purely happy face beamed at them, and they all smiled alongside her, looking up to the sky without a single cloud.

A week later, it was a common thing to find Natsuki with the boys, whether it was teaching them combat, or how to load a gun, or the boys telling her where the best spots were for certain things such as sunbathing and eating.

Natsuki had taken it upon herself to teach the boy's some manners with the help of Makino.

"Ace, Luffy, get it together please! Sabo's the only one who knows his manners, and he will not be the only one leaving this island with it, even if my life depends on it!" She one day exclaimed. This whole thing started when they were nearly caught in town because Luffy demanded that he get something from the stores, and the owner got angry.

"Why do we need it!? We're going to be pirates! Not officials in the marines!" Luffy pouted.

"For example: in the future, you become a successful pirate, with lots of land under your power. One day, when you're not there, another pirate comes along, saying that they want that island under their command. If they like you, because you were kind, and had good manners, they would say no. Though if you were awful, with absolutely no manners like Ace, then they would say yes to the pirates, and you will lose power. Understand?" Ace growled, and Natsuki laughed heartily.

"I still don't understand!" Natsuki sighed.

"Well, let's put it like this. When dad came, did you like him?"

"Yeah! He was really cool!"

"What if some really nasty pirate came along instead. Would you be happy?"

"No!"

"So let's try to be more like dad rather than those invading bad pirates, eh?"

"Okay." He bounced back up, and started learning how to use words such as please and thank you in certain places.

"Hmph, how dumb." Ace left, and Natsuki decided to do something to change his mind. She smirked as an idea popped to her head.

She made two kagebunshin. Then disguised them both to look fairly similar to each other, like brothers.

She made one go to Ace.

"Hey! Sorry to disturb you, but have you seen my brother? He has a similar hair cut to mine and same eye colour, but he disappeared earlier, and I can't find him. Can you please tell me if you've seen him? He's incredibly important to me." She said through her kagebunshin.

"No, I haven't seen him." Ace replied simply.

"Oh, then sorry to take up your time. Please if you see him, can you tell him that his brother was looking for him?"

"Okay." Ace couldn't help but want to help for the boy who was so sincere and worried.

"Thank you very much" She made him walk away, then dispersed the clone. Then, she made the 'brother' walk to Ace.

Ace recognised the boy who was similar to the one who was looking for him.

"Oi, you there with the brown hair and blue eyes, your brother was looking for you." Ace yelled at the boy.

"Huh!? What do you care about! I don't care whether he searches for me for days, I will not! Go back! Home!" Ace didn't understand why anger boiled inside him. Was it because he had a home but didn't want to go back? Was it because he was so rude? Was it because he had no care for his brother who cared so much for him?

"Look here brat. Your brother has been searching for you for hours, and that's all you've got to say? Why not spout an apology or two before you whine!"

"Why should I be ordered around by you!? You little beggar! I bet you don't even have someone who cares about you!" Natsuki thought she went too far, but there was no going back now. Though something in Ace's eyes changed.

"Would you go back to your brother please? He's been looking for you for hours, and I really feel bad for him. Don't you think the same way too?" Ace suddenly said, his voice softer.

"B-but, he keeps getting praised by mother and father, so I th-thought if I disappeared, they wouldn't care..."

"Of course they would! You are family, aren't you? Family protect each other." Ace heard himself say, the image of Sabo, Luffy and Natsuki coming to his head.

"Okay... I'll go look for brother as well. Thank you. Sorry for calling you beggar. I'm sure you have family who care about you too!" Her kagebunshin smiled at its own will, and ran off, and Natsuki dispersed it as well.

Ace thought about it for a while. When he was yelling at the boy, the boy was insincere, very annoying, and frankly made him want to punch him in the face, whilst his brother made him slightly happy, that he showed such nice manners to him, the son of the devil.

Perhaps what Natsuki said was valid after all. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We all  
> Are merely monsters,  
> If we do not find   
> The words on our tongues  
> To save each other.  
> We must save each other.  
> For heaven's sake,  
> We must save each other,  
> For God built an empire  
> Inside us all, and with   
> A tear leaving his eye:  
> He called it love
> 
> -Christopher Poindexter

A month had passed since Natsuki started teaching manners, and albeit slightly slow, she was nearly there. Luffy started saying his please's and thank you's a bit more, though it was only limited to the public. He wouldn't ever be polite in front of his friends. Sabo was himself as always. A gentleman unless it was about, again like Luffy, his friends.

Ace was the one who changed the most. Though he was less stiff with friends, he was much politer, and wasn't as obnoxious and stuck-up as he was before. Though Natsuki worried that he was losing his child-like qualities.

One day, Natsuki confronted him.

"Ace, what's up? You're not being yourself nowadays."

"What are you talking about? I just learnt a lesson that's all."

"This isn't the lesson I wanted you to learn."

"Is the lesson you're talking about, mine though?" He asked in a matter-of-a-fact tone.

"I'm talking about your manners Ace. I know you understand what I mean."

"What's wrong with my manners? They are better, aren't they?"

"They certainly are Ace. Though the way you're acting, it makes you sound as if you're in your sixties! It's so unusual!"

"You're the one who told me to be polite! Geez!!" Natsuki smiled. He was getting back to his former attitude again.

"Yeah, I did. Doesn't mean you need to be as stiff as you are now. I wanted you to learn basic manners, like Luffy's learnt. Being sociable, amiable, polite, and respectable. They're all very important and difficult lessons Ace. You've skipped a few steps, and you've got the manners that not even adults seem to posses, but that doesn't mean you should stop being your natural, energetic self." She lectured, and Ace wondered who was losing their child-like qualities more. Himself or her. Then he remembered how she used to be much older.

"So? What do I need lessons on now!?" He exclaimed, his question dripping with sass.

"We, need to play tag." Ace had no idea what she was talking about and followed her as she found Sabo and Luffy.

"Guys, do you want to play tag?"

"Yeah!!" Luffy jumped up.

"Weapons allowed?" Sabo asked, holding out his pipe.

"Yep."

"Here, Ace, yours."

"Thanks." Natsuki smiled at Ace. That's all the manners he needed at this age.

"I'll be it first. You can only stay in the forest okay? Also, I'll count twenty seconds, so off you go!" She turned around, and closed her eyes, starting her counting. "Twenty! Nineteen! -"

"Ace, where are you gonna go?"

"I'm going to hide up in one of the trees."

"Really? I'm going to the alligator's den. I'm sure Natsuki wouldn't want to go there." He tottered off, and only a second later did Sabo and Ace realise what he had just said.

"LUFFY! GET BACK HERE!" They ran after him.

"Two! One! Ready or not! Here I come!" She said and jumped down from the tree house. She sensed all three of her brothers in the same place and smirked. This was going to be easy.

"Luffy! You idiot! What do you think you're doing! Why should you come here, when even Natsu doesn't come!" Ace whispered harshly as he held Luffy's collar. Luffy himself was dangerously dangling above a congregation of alligators huddled beneath his feet.

Sabo watched from the bank, his palms sweaty as he replayed the scene in his mind, when Luffy was climbing up a tree, his foot slipped because of the dampness of the lake next to it, and he nearly fell. He was hanging on a branch, when his arm started to stretch, his powers still not controlled.

Ace ran past him, and hurriedly climbed up the tree, and grabbed onto Luffy's collar, and that was what had happened until the present time.

The fact that Ace grabbed onto a part of him that didn't stretch was the good part, though the problem were Luffy's limbs hanging from it. His arms were beginning to droop downwards, his abdomen and legs doing the same.

Sabo closed his eyes, and Ace yelled at Luffy to stop stretching, and concentrate on contracting.

With a whoosh of wind, Sabo heard a simple, "Tag, you're it." From Natsuki, who seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"Now, what's happened... Luffy, look at me!" She called at the boy whose eyes were blurry, his tears disturbing his sight. He looked like an incredibly lanky giant now. He had a small head, but his whole body had stretched downwards, like the effects of gravitropism. "Focus on my voice Luffy. Think of food. Think of birthdays! When's your birthday?"

"Fifth of May..."

"That's soon! It's the twenty-seventh of April today! Only eight days away! You should've told me!"

"I forgot..." Luffy's arms and legs seemed to be slowly shrinking.

"Mine's on the tenth of October! Your birthday is exactly half of mine! I'm 10/10, you're 5/5!! What do you want to eat for your birthday Lu?"

"Meat!!"

"Why didn't I guess. What do you want for a present?"

"Um. I want to have Natsuki!" Ace nearly dropped Luffy and thank goodness he didn't.

"I'm not an object young man." She scolded half-heartedly.

"Oh, no! That's not what I meant! I wanted you as my sister!" He beamed, and Natsuki felt butterflies in her stomach as she witnessed one of the cutest things she ever saw.

"Aww! Of course I'll be your sister!" She smiled when his limbs were no longer stretched, and he was a regular Luffy size again. Ace was able to pull him up, and they both huffed. Luffy jumped onto Ace, but then they both slipped, and Ace couldn't grab onto the branch Luffy was holding onto just a few seconds ago.

"NO!" Natsuki yelled, her irises turning silver like the time when Luffy was pushed off of the boat by the bandit. The alligators went unconscious and sank into the water. Ace and Luffy fell into the lake, safely, though Luffy's strength dissipated because of the water. Ace dragged Luffy out of the water, and they lay on the ground, huffing and puffing.

"What- what was... What was that..." Ace finally got out.

"It seems that I have the conqueror's haki." She seemed surprised herself. She helped Ace, and Sabo helped Luffy up to his feet.

"Natsu! Will you really be my sister?"

"Only on your birthday Luffy, then I'll be your sister forever. Would the boys like to join?" She joked. The boys considered it. They felt like they were siblings from the beginning. Why not make it official?

"Yeah! Why not!?" Sabo grinned.

"I'll-" Ace was stopped by a sudden rustle of leaves from a bush. A figure who was as tall as Benn, so basically a giant, came out, and Luffy yelled out first, looking at the silhouette of this giant who had what looked like fur.

"BEAR!!" The children stood their ground. Bear meat was one of the best!

"Who're you calling bear you idiot grandson!" The 'bear' yelled, hitting Luffy's head. The 'bear' turned out to be a man wearing khaki shorts and a tropical t-shirt. White hair, which was spiky like Luffy's, and glaring eyes.

His gaze turned to the rest, and he counted each one, including his grandson who now had a massive bump on his head.

"Four? I thought I only left three last time I came... A girl as well? Hm. You look familiar girlie. What's your name?"

"You shouldn't ask for someone's name without introducing yourself first." Natsuki said, giving her a slight Deja vu to when she first met Sabo and Ace.

"Right. Where are my manners. My name is Monkey D. Garp. I'm Luffy's grandfather, and carer of Ace and Sabo."

"My name is Natsuki. Nice to meet you Ojii-chan." She said, though the moment she said those last words, he jumped in front of her, clasping her hands with his massive ones.

"What did you call me?"

"Ojii-chan?"

"Finally!!!! Someone has finally called me Ojii-chan! You brats, learn from her!"

"Already am, jijii." He hit Ace's head hard.

"Call me Ojii-chan! Also, what's she teaching you?" Natsuki stood in front of Sabo, because by the pace he was going, Sabo would be the next victim of the ferocious punch of this man.

"I'm teaching them manners. Because it's always a good idea to be well mannered in the pirate world."

"Boy, you want to become a pirate?" Natsuki scolded herself. She should've remembered that this was Garp, the marine vice admiral. Known for his hate for pirates.

"Yeah! We're going to set sail when we're seventeen!" Sabo continued, and Natsuki tried to discreetly shut him up, but the man was already cracking his knuckles.

"Hmm? A pirate eh?"

"Yeah! Just like Natsuki's dad!" Natsuki sighed.

"Natsuki's dad? Who is he? Wait a second... Red hair, bluebell eyes. Natsuki... You're Shanks and Tomomi's daughter aren't you."

"Yep! That's me! Nice to meet you too." She then took off, carrying Ace and Luffy on each shoulder, dragging Sabo along, and for the first time, tried to use her own developed hiraishin. It was slightly difficult, but a few seconds of concentration did it. She and the three disappeared in a ray of light, and again, took some concentration to get their physical bodies again.

Sabo jumped out of the tree house and threw up in a near-by bush, and Ace and Luffy woke up with massive headaches.

"What did you do Natsu?"

"Um, maybe a new jutsu?"

"Why'd you do it in the first place?"

"Because your grandfather's incredibly angry right now..." That's what she had thought anyway. Garp was actually quite sentimental at the moment.

Shanks was like his son, who grew up with his son, Dragon at the Foosha village. Dragon then fell in love, a forbidden love, and he wasn't the one who was punished. His lover was punished, and she died, just after giving birth to Luffy. The Celestial dragons said that it was a life for a life. Dragon left to become a revolutionary, to change the world for the better, and Shanks soon followed in his steps, only difference was that he became a page boy for the late pirate king.

He too fell in love with Dracule Tomomi, a pirate-hunter with a bounty high enough to buy a couple of whole islands.

She had met him after Shanks started his own crew, when she had set out to get his bounty, but decided that Shanks was good enough to keep alive, after a spar with each other.

Shanks nearly beat her, until he found out she was only toying with him.

They fell in love after continuous meeting with each other, and she gave birth to their daughter. Though Tomomi was targeted by many for her high bounty, and on the night, she gave birth, seeing as she was weak, cowards took the opportunity to kill her. The coward called Sakazuki.

It broke him. Shanks didn't smile for a long time, his only solace the smiles of his daughter. Dragon even asked him whether he wanted to join the revolutionaries, but Shanks declined, saying that he wanted to stay at the sea, which Tomomi loved with all her heart.

He had not heard from either of them, until just recently, he heard from Makino that Shanks had visited the village, and in hopes of meeting him and his daughter, he came as quickly as he could, only to find out that Shanks had left a week before. So he was climbing up the hill, through the forest when he saw his grandson, Ace, the son of Gol, and a blond boy, and a red headed girl. He almost ran to save them as Ace and Luffy fell from the branch, a mere second from becoming the alligator's lunch, when he felt a wave of haki, conqueror's haki nonetheless. From the girl.

So he decided to appear in front of the girl, who reminded him so much of Shanks and Tomomi, only to find out that she was, indeed the daughter of the pair.

He vaguely wondered how she possessed the same ability as Borsalino, to move at the speed of light, but decided to find out the next day. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grown from the same strong root,  
> Nurtured, protected and cared,  
> Life moves on, and the truth is not pleasant,  
> Life takes them to opposite directions,  
> Siblings do not always remain together,  
> They have to follow different paths,  
> Just like the branches of a tree,  
> They spread out in different directions,  
> To grow, develop and rise,  
> But in their connected hearts,  
> The attachment and affection remains,  
> Love grows each day, to remain forever.
> 
> \- Chitrangada Sharan

The next day was filled with surprises. They woke up to find Garp sleeping there with them, sprawled out on the wooden floor, a giant sleep-bubble shrinking and growing from his nose. Sabo couldn't control his curiosity, and popped the bubble, which caused the man to stir in his sleep, and begin to wake up. The children backed up towards the bark of the tree the house was built on, and watched the man blink once, twice, thrice, and fully wake up.

He scratched his beard, then his eyes, then rubbed his mouth. He roughly combed through his hair, and then took a good look of where he was. His eyes landed on the four children for a brief second, before his gaze moved onto the scenery, and then back on them again.

"Morning." He said.

"Good morning." Natsuki replied.

"What a wonderful day it is."

"Truly, it is." Utter silence followed, and the three boys tried to sneak away, as they knew Natsuki was safe from the old man's wrath.

"Where do you think you're going?" He said with a smile which seemed a hundred times more deadly than a bear's glare.

He then stood up, accidentally breaking the roof of the house.

"Fix it properly!" Natsuki's voice rang as the vice admiral hammered on a piece of wood to the broken ceiling a few minutes later.

"Yes ma'am." Garp knew her mother well. He did not want to mess with her, and he somehow knew that keeping this girl from getting angry was to do as she wished.

An hour later, the roof was done, with splinters in the man's hands, and spare wood in the boy's hands, as they pretended to be ninja. Though every time they made a move, Natsuki would unconsciously fix their posture, saying how if they were truly a ninja, their hands would be far more down the 'katana', and whenever they landed from a jump, they should be silent.

Garp watched the boys spar, and also saw how this girl seemed to know what was wrong every time, even though her back was faced against them.

"Natsuki, have you begun training with haki?"

"Only a little bit. I can only really 'see' if they're close enough, like how I can see their movements. I can only detect things barely if they're faraway." She admitted.

"Would you like me to teach you?"

"Yes! Yes please! I promised my father that I would get stronger!" She jumped onto his lap with excitement, but quickly got off, her face on fire. "Sorry."

"Alright! Your training begins now!"

They were next seen in an open area of the forest, Natsuki sitting in the centre, her legs crossed in a zazen-position. She had a blind-fold on, and behind her was Garp with one of the 'katana's the boys were using earlier.

He swung it at her head, and she dodged, though he continued to attack quickly, and as it wore her out, her movements began to dull.

When the wooden stick brushed her cheek slightly, leaving a pink trail, Garp stopped, and then used his armament haki to solidify the stick until it had a dark black shine to it. He tried hitting her, and when she dodged, Garp lost his balance slightly, and the stick struck the ground, fissures racing the ground.

The boys looked at the training with wide eyes. It looked so cool!!

"Jii-chan! Train us too!"

"Call me Ojii-chan!!" He yelled back and hit Luffy's head. Ace and Sabo dismissed it, until they remembered how this old man was able to hurt Luffy yesterday. As they had thought, Luffy lay there unconscious, another large bump on his head. Slightly larger than the one from the day before, as Garp had used a stick covered with the same haki.

"You will only get training after you prove to me that you can use some of the haki! Also, I won't teach you until you call me Ojii-chan!" he said stubbornly. Ace made a face and carried Luffy to a nearby tree, determined to get some training.

Another hour later, Natsuki was black and blue. She was happy though. She was worried that Garp might be soft on her because she was a girl, but it turned out that he knew she didn't like being treated tenderly when she knew the results would become power and strength.

"Rest for today Natsuki. We'll continue after dinner." He said, and only then did Natsuki realise it was night time, and also how she was incredibly hungry.

She tried using some of her haki, and found that her brother's were at the tree house. _That's how_ _Garp_ _found us!_ she thought, and walked with the man back to the three boys who had a fire going, with two giant boars skewered above it. The smell itself was a meal.

"Natsu! You're covered in bruises!"

"Are you okay!?"

"I'm hungry!" They said in the order of Ace, Sabo and Luffy. Though I'm sure you could've guessed the last one.

"I'm fine boys. Just slightly tired. Is the meat done!?" She exclaimed, just as her stomach growled, even louder than Luffy's, who's stomach was growling even before Natsuki and Garp arrived.

They all laughed and began to eat. They argued to who got the certain parts, and of course, Natsuki won, though secretly she gave some to Luffy, who got all the scruffy parts after losing with rock paper scissors. Garp smiled at them as he took a big mouthful of the other boar which he took all for himself.

Two days later, it was Luffy's birthday.

Natsuki stole some of Garp's secret wine stash, taking the best sake and sat down in a circle.

"Today, we become siblings. When we become pirates, we might not be on the same ship together..." Natsuki started.

"But the four of us will always be siblings." Luffy said with a bright smile.

"No matter where we are or what we do, this bond will never be broken!" Sabo included.

"Starting today! We're siblings!" Ace said finally. They clinked their cups, and drank the contents, and both Natsuki and Garp ignored each other, well aware of the presence of one another, but not mentioning it in hopes of the moment to last just a bit more.

* * *

So for another year, there was peace. Garp had to leave a week after Luffy's birthday, though he prepared a training schedule for each of them, presenting Luffy's as a late birthday present.

Some of the training involved staying by themselves in a jungle for a month, or a hole for a month, or tying themselves to balloons, setting themselves up into the sky. Though they ignored those ones.

The four of them trained for that year to its fullest. Natsuki further polishing her skills with her revolvers, though none of the boys seemed to like fighting with anything else other than their fists, though Sabo trained slightly with his pipe.

Natsuki also took up some sword fighting, though she never understood its methods, until it was her own birthday, and a package was delivered from her father. A thin long package labelled as dangerous and fragile arrived at Makino's place, which she delivered happily to Natsuki when she came to the bar to celebrate her birthday.

She opened the package to find a thin katana. Its sheath was lacquered with red and black, glistening in the light. It was a unique shape; the sheath. It was rather round at the end, rather than it being rectangular, which happened with most sheathes for katanas. She then unwound the string which tied the hilt to the sheath and took out the blade.

 _So that's why._ She thought to herself. The blade was a sleek silver, though there was one thing about it which differed from most katanas.

It was a double-edged blade.

She scolded herself for not thinking of the possibility sooner. The sheath was rounded, showing that it had to protect the inside more carefully than most katana's, or else the blade would dull incredibly easily. It also had a hilt which was shorter than most katanas, which was because to control a katana, if it were only one side with a blade, you would get more power with a hilt. Though with a double-edged blade, you needed to be more flexible with the blade. Any extra weight would weigh the whole katana and your movement down. She read the small letter with the katana, to find that it used to be her mother's katana, and it's name was Kusanagi no Tsurugi.

She then went outside, and swung it, just for fun, when the tree she was practising by, a meter away, was cut in half.

She looked at the blade, then at the tree, and back at the blade again. She then laughed at the irony. A double-edged katana, literally was, a double-edged blade. It had its negative qualities and its positive ones. She then looked at the string which bound the katana to the sheath and tied the blade to the sheath strongly.

She would never take the blade out again, until absolutely necessary.

The next year though, Sabo's father, an aristocrat found out about Sabo, and paid a pirate to get him back.

"Give Sabo back!" Luffy yelled, "Blue-Jam!"

"Give him back? What nonsense is this? Sabo is my son! We parents gave life to our children! It's their duty to do whatever we tell them to! How dare you incite him to leave home!?"

Luffy and Ace were growling, struggling against the arms of adults who were holding them in the air. At least if they were on the ground, they could've done some damage! Luffy cried for his powerlessness, Ace hitting himself mentally for letting them catch them by surprise.

"Are you after my money, you trash!" The noble continued to yell.

"What!? That's what you think we're a-" The man holding Ace smashed the boy's head to the ground, shutting him up.

"Hey you! Pirate! Be careful when you hit that guttersnipe! You nearly got his filthy trash mountain blood on me! I have to disinfect it immediately!"

Sabo, still struggling against the hold of the pirate, yelled at his father. "Stop it! Nobody made me do anything! I left home by my free will!"

"You be quiet! Take care of the rest pirate." He barked.

"Now now, what do we have here? Blue-Jam, I thought I told you to lay off my family." A new voice said. Blue-jam and his pirates slowly turned around to find a girl around thirteen, with blood-red hair and night-sky blue eyes. She was smiling at the men, but any sane man could feel the blood-lust from her. Though apparently Sabo's father wasn't sane, because he shouted at her.

"Who are you!? My, you look rather beautiful! You would be the perfect partner for my son!" He insisted.

"As much as I love Sabo, he's my brother. Not my fiancé, so would you kindly give him back please?" She asked as nicely as possible.

"No no. Not this piece of trash, my other son. Stelly." Sabo's face only grew darker by the second. The same could be said for the rest. Unbeknown to the pirates, Natsuki was slowly using her conqueror's haki to take out the pirates one by one.

The one holding Luffy dropped, and Luffy ran to Natsuki. The one holding Ace also collapsed, and the final pirate, Blue-Jam collapsed, setting Sabo free.

The four siblings stood next to each other, letting the nobleman figure out by himself, what had just happened.

"Pirates! Capture them!" He shrieked, but when no one listened to his command, he turned around, only to find that he was by himself. "What have you done!? You witch!"

"Oh nothing, dear future father in law, if you survive." She yelled sarcastically. Though when she tried to attack with Kusanagi, Sabo stopped her.

"Natsu. I'll go back. I'll convince him to let me go. After all, it seems like I'm no longer his son anyway. Should be easy enough." He said with a slightly forced smile. He hugged each one of them strongly.

"I'll see you guys soon alright?" He said, before walking towards his father, back to a house, where he used to live.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Farewell words too often part  
> And cleave with sorrow to aching hearts.  
> With a final wave, all disappears  
> Beneath the hush of silent tears
> 
> Why can't sorrow be so kind  
> As to hide away and stay confined?  
> And leave us only thoughts of bliss,  
> Of joyful things to reminisce.
> 
> So focus not on sorrows, born  
> Where happy times are now forlorn,  
> But instead on joy and merriment  
> And delight all felt without relent.
> 
> And with all the love to fill our hearts,  
> Sorrow and pain then soon departs.  
> And although goodbyes are bittersweet.  
> We can no longer feel incomplete.
> 
> -Gregory K

As Sabo walked away, Natsuki felt her subconscious seemingly yelling at her to go after him, but she honoured his wish to go alone, to convince his own father to let him go, to live freely, as he was even prepared to ask his father to disown him.

Natsuki looked at the ground, admitting her lack of strength, and accepting her brothers' powerlessness's. They need to train. Train even more than they were doing before.

She knocked out the last of the pirates, who seemed to have been payed even more money by the noble to attack them once more, letting loose all of her fury on them.

Meanwhile, Sabo and his 'father' where at the highland checkpoint, in the kingdom of Goa, where there were men who acted as marines on land, so police officers if you will.

"I can't say it. It wasn't Ace, Luffy or Natsuki's fault."

" **Why can't you speak the truth!?** " His father yelled. " **Did they threaten you!?"**

" ** _They're not like that!"_** Sabo yelled back with greater force.

"If you have a criminal record, it will affect on the reputation of your family. You won't be able to enter highland." The officer said calmly. You got a lot of people like this near highland, a place only nobles could enter. Most were stuck up, filthy rich people with ten inch poles up their holes, but it was his job to ignore it.

He even wanted to praise the young boy he was questioning for standing up to his father, who was being a complete ass-hat.

"Those three forced you to go along with their crimes. Isn't that right Sabo?" His father insisted.

Sabo still looked down; he didn't want to betray his family like this. Besides, the 'crimes' his father spoke of, were acts of saving. Yeah, they stole some food, but that was because there were starving people in the lowland, whilst people like his father in the highland had enough food to eat for the rest of his life, all in his pantry!

" _Sabo, your three trash friends are with the pirates now. I hold their lives in my hand. If you really care about them, you'll choose your words carefully."_ His father whispered into his ear. Surely the pirates weren't strong enough? Though being apart from his sister and brothers, allowed doubt to seep in. " _You're a smart boy. I know you can come up with the right answer very quickly._ "

"I only came with you so that I could cut all ties with you! What matter does it have for you to bring me back!!?? It certainly shouldn't affect my brothers and sister!!" Sabo yelled at his father with all his might, holding his father's collar tightly, with whitened knuckles.

"Dear me, I'm so unfortunate. My son is a fool. You do understand, don't you?" The filthy man said, handing the officer a thick pile of notes, bribing him with the berries.

"Well..."

"I think you've suffered enough already. Don't worry, I'll handle the paperwork." Sabo's father pressed, and the man of 'justice' took the money and let the two pass through the gates.

They hadn't walked a few minutes before they arrived in front of a giant mansion, with cream white walls and tall windows, decorations on the pillars and bright colours on the chimneys standing tall.

"Go on. You haven't set foot inside for a while, but this is your home." His father said in a snotty tone. "Wait, you're filthy. Get cleaned in the yard first. Then go to the bath."

"Welcome back young master." A bruised servant girl greeted, and Sabo vowed to get the girl some food. She was as thin as a stick! He smiled softly, though it didn't reach his eyes.

"Thank heaven! Sabo! You're back! Oh my, what's that terrible smell?" A high, cracked voice asked from the hallway. He recognised it as his mother's voice. He slowly turned around to see his mother holding the hand of another boy, who had a rather long, lumpy nose.

"Pleased to meet you big brother! My name is Stelly! I'm eight years old. I've heard a lot about you." The boy said with a wide, sickening, fake grin so unnatural to Stelly's face, it nearly made Sabo gag. The boy was a year younger than Luffy, yet he seemed even more stupid than Luffy at the time!

Sabo was then taken to his room, to which Stelly followed, and the said boy jumped onto his 'older brother's bed and began to peel off his mask.

"I heard you're stupid! Ha! Father and mother have been saying it behind your back. But you surely do have some rotten luck! If you had stayed there, you would've been burnt to the crisp with those pieces of trash!" He smugly stated.

"What did you just say!?"

"Hey! W-wha-what are you doing you piece of trash! You stink! Get away from me!" Stelly stammered as Sabo stood up, raging in on him, gradually getting closer.

"What did you say! Tell me everything!" After a few more threats, which weren't that empty, and a few beans spilled, Sabo released all his anger on the boy.

"THEY'RE GOING TO SET FIRE TO GREY TERMINAL!?"

"That's right. Of course you wouldn't know. You weren't here. It was decided months ago. Did you know the inspection team of the world government is making its rounds in the East Blue? They'll arrive at the kingdom of Goa in three days. It's causing a huge hubbub. The world aristocrats, the Celestial Dragons are on that ship. The royal families wan to curry their favour by burning this nation's trash." Stelly continued to explain, not knowing that he was basically telling their entire plan to someone who may be able to save all the people Stelly called 'trash'

"Once trash mountain is gone, Goa will be perfectly clean!"

"What are you talking about!? How is that even possible!? A lot of people live there! They'll lose their homes! They make their living off that mountain!"

"Let go! Didn't you hear me!?" Stelly yelled, finally escaping from the grip of his so-called trash brother. "They're going to burn! This country's trash! All of it!"

"Even the people?" Sabo realised, and took all his belongings, including the pipe which was confiscated, which had been smuggled away by Kate, the servant girl.

"Please save my family! They live on the trash mountain! We have nowhere else to go!" She said desperately, and Sabo made the promise, even if he was unsure if it was going to be kept.

He jumped out of his room window, landing on the ground three stories beneath him, and began to run to the Grey terminal. If he couldn't warn them, no one could make it. 


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You never said I'm leaving  
> You never said goodbye  
> You were gone before I knew it  
> And only God knew why
> 
> A million times I needed you  
> A million times I cried  
> If love alone could have saved you  
> You never would have died
> 
> In life I loved you dearly  
> In death I love you still  
> In my heart you hold a place  
> That no one could ever fill
> 
> It broke my heart to lose you  
> But you didn't go alone  
> For part of me went with you  
> The day God took you home
> 
> -Amy Shiba

Sabo ran his fastest to Grey Terminal, and along the way, he stopped and asked if they knew about the plan to burn off what made up half of the kingdom. What made them, them.

"Yes, I know about it. What of it? Whose son are you?" A nobleman said as he sipped on his cappuccino, with extra froth, with a hint of cinnamon and a tall spoon of sugar, with a side of a cookie, baked with high-class vanilla and the most extravagant flour, and of the only egg from the rarest chicken.

Sabo was shell-shocked. Who would just ignore such a plan, which involved killing half, or even more, of the population!?

"Yes, I know about the fire. But we're not meant to talk about it. Don't want anyone outside the highland getting a word of it... We're special. If you're a son of an aristocrat, then you should..." Sabo ran before listening to what the old man had to say. It was worth nothing anyway.

Meanwhile, Natsuki was talking to *cough*torturing*cough* Blue Jam to get some information out of the man, wondering why a pirate willingly worked under someone, much less listen to a noble's order.

"You're going to burn trash mountain!? Why would you do that!?" Ace yelled at him.

"It wasn't my idea. The oil and explosives we planted yesterday are going to be used to make a fire that will exterminate all the people here." He explained with difficulty; well anyone would have trouble speaking. Especially when your whole body has bruises patched on every part of your skin, not a single part, a normal, tan colour.

"I gotta tell everybody at trash mountain! He is a bad guy after all!" Luffy exclaimed.

"I guess you're just children after all, getting upset like this."

"If being a child means to have empathy to people around them, I'd rather stay a child forever than to lose such emotions to become an adult." Natsuki growled lowly at the man. He shivered slightly.

"Where are the explosives?"

"Won't tell you."

"Oh really? Would you like to enjoy the excruciating pain of losing a limb then?" She smiled, taking out her Kusanagi, flashing it for show in front of the man.

The pirate gulped, but sealed his lips shut, and he didn't open them for another hour, when the fires were beginning to spread, with the price of both arms, and one leg.

Sabo, meanwhile, watched as the flames burnt the skies, lighting it up with blood red light, accepting the shrill screams and deafening yells from the citizens being burnt alive. A tear slid past his face, onto the ground, hissing as it touched the scalding hot ground.

He watched as the giant gates closed shut, dividing the flaming terminal and the highland apart.

"ACE!!! LUFFY!!! NATSUKI!!!" Sabo screamed out. This couldn't be happening.

No.

This just couldn't be real.

A dream.

A really, awful dream.

He couldn't lose them...

The soldiers captured him, and Sabo didn't even try to defend himself, deaf, dumb and blind as the soldiers kicked him around, eventually leaving him on his own.

A cloaked man approached the bleeding boy, asking what was wrong.

"The ones responsible for this fire... are the royal family and the aristocrats! It's true... please believe me..." Sabo answered in a raspy voice which had been filled with smoke. "This town stinks worse than trash mountain!! It's filled with the stench of rotten people! If I stay here... _I'll never be free!"_ Dragon stared at the poor child who began to sob.

" **I'M** **ASHAMED I WAS BORN AN ARISTOCRAT**!!!" Sabo fell to the ground, all his power lost. Dragon couldn't believe they had the capability to do such a thing to one of their own. He picked the boy up, when he felt a presence jump over the walls, and over to the safe side.

She carried two boys in her arms, both unconscious, and several more people on her back, carrying the total of six people by herself. She then left them there, before jumping over the wall to save some more. She came back with eight, and she kept going back into the fire, then back, into the fire, then back.

Dragon watched the girl in awe. She gazed at the people with sadness, her teeth clenched, not a single tear stain left on her cheek.

Gradually, the number of people she carried died down, until she came back with no one after some time of searching.

She walked over to the first two boys she carried over, and as she lifted them up, Dragon gulped, recognising his own son. He then saw Ace, his best friend's captain's son. He recognised the girl, but couldn't place his finger on it, until she took off the hood which protected her from the flames, letting her red hair tumble down.

Shanks' daughter.

She ran around the place, using some sort of glowing green energy to heal the people, when after a while, she lay down on her back on the ground, limp.

Dragon panicked, wondering if she had gone unconscious, though it wasn't surprising. To carry over forty people, jumping over a twenty-meter-tall wall, land safely, and heal them, was the work which even a few marine admirals wouldn't, or couldn't do. She got up another minute later and went over to the two boys. Hugging them tightly when they woke up. She turned around, observing her surroundings, when she suddenly whirled to Dragon's direction. Could she use observational haki?

Dragon erased his presence and hid in the shadows, though it turned out the girl wasn't after him.

"SABO!!" She yelled, using the green energy she had used earlier to heal him as well. The bleeding stopped and the bruises faded, and the unconscious boy woke up.

"Natsu? Is this heaven? Have I died?" He asked dreamily. Though he jumped when Natsuki slapped his cheek, then immediately hug him.

"Don't make me worry like that you idiot! LUFFY!!! ACE!!! GUESS WHO I FOUND!?" She yelled at her two other brothers to come, who at first were groggy and limp, but after noticing who it was, ran at Sabo as well.

"SABO!" The two shouted together. Leaving the four for a pleasant reunion, Dragon slipped out of the shadows silently, and disappeared with his fellow revolutionaries.

The four of them smiled. Even if their town was burnt to the ground, they were together, and that was all that mattered for them, now.

A week later, early in the morning, Sabo got changed, folded his mattress and blanket, placing a small letter for each sibling on top, and took his belongings.

He gently climbed down the tree and slipped away from the tree house.

He stole a fishing boat at the port, and rode it, taking the paddles and rowing away from his home. He saw a giant ship next to his own small one, and moved away, though what he didn't know was that the ship belonged to a Celestial Dragon.

"What's that?"

"It looks like a fishing boat, sir" Came the captain's curt reply.

A man with the ability to miss, even when shooting a target larger than an elephant at point blank distance, shot a small ship more than a hundred metres away, hitting the main mast perfectly. A rare spectacle which happened only once in a billion tries.

The man, with the title of Celestial Dragon jumped around, tripping on his own feet, as a near twenty men went to help him up, all cheering him for making the shot.

Natsuki on the other hand, woke up with a sudden jerk. Her body moving as if having its own will, using a jutsu.

The hiraishin.

She reappeared on top of her brother's body. Aboard a ship, in the middle of the sea, next to a ship a hundred times its size. Looking at the mark on its mast, the symbol of the world government, Natsuki frowned.

She looked at her brother.

A tear rolled down her cheek,

then another,

another.  
  
  


Until her face was a complete mess of tears.

She hugged his body closely.

She wished for a pulse.

But no matter how long she waited, nothing was felt under her touch.

She yelled in frustration. Because of her inability to gain strength, because of her weakness, because of her lack of power, she lost something once more. This time much more important than her father's arm.

She lost her brother's life.

Howling in pain, she sent a massive wave of haki at the World Noble's ship, letting no one slip past it. She smirked with venom and watched the ship swerve direction.

There wasn't a single person who was able to control the ship anymore.

Natsuki hugged her brother once more and let him lie on deck of the burning ship. He would have died on the sea. A place he loved the most.

She ignored the burns she was getting from the fire, kissed her brother's forehead, and reappeared on top of the cliff where they swore to be siblings. Ace and Luffy were already there, letters written by Sabo, in their hands, and the burning ship in their sight.

Looking at the horizon, tears blurring their sight, they watched as the burning ship slowly sank to the bottom of the sea, taking a pirate with it. Taking a young man with dreams for the future with it. 

But most importantly, that day. The ocean stole their brother, to be kept, forever. 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> True and genuine  
> You will always be  
> You will always remain a true friend to me  
> When times are bad  
> You're there to understand  
> That's how I know that you are--   
> True and genuine  
> We cry  
> We laugh  
> We share all our fears  
> Nothing can come between us because you are always near  
> True and genuine  
> Yes, that is you  
> The look in your eye is what makes you so true  
> Genuine you are because you will always be there  
> I've looked for the flaws and I find none there  
> How we came to be   
> Was much a surprise to me  
> But the fact that we're inseparable is what matters to me  
> True and genuine  
> You will always be  
> You will always remain a true friend to me
> 
> \- Keyeria Sowell

Five years later, Natsuki turned eighteen, and stood on a small fishing boat, on the dock, where her life with her brothers first started.

She smiled at the sky without a cloud in sight, and looked into the sea, with water so calm, you could see your own face without a ripple disturbing it.

"Natsuki!! I'll meet you in the Grand line okay!? You grant your own dreams as well alright!" Luffy yelled at his sister.

"Of course!! You become a pirate king, and I'll become the fifth emperor of the sea!!" Natsuki replied.

"Only two more months until I set out as well!! Watch your back Natsuki! I will surpass you!!" Ace declared, since for these past five years, he could never win with strength against her.

"Over my dead body you idiot!" Natsuki smiled fondly at her two brothers, then looked down at her feet. She had no shoes on, which had a reason behind it.

After Benn's warning of not letting her kiss everything she wanted to keep the hiraishin mark on, she developed another, much more efficient way of placing seals on people and objects. She decided to draw seals on her feet, which allowed her to imprint her hiraishin seal everywhere her feet touched. So if she walked barefoot, she could literally escape out of anywhere to anywhere she had been to before.

She wore a green kimono with only one sleeve, and anbu trousers with a black tank-top, which could be seen from parts the kimono didn't hide. She tied her red hair in a ponytail and had a fox mask slid to the back of her head for now. She refused to show her identity, as it could raise questions to her connections with her parents, and if that happened, her bounty would rise just for that reason only.

Natsuki wanted a bounty which was proven by her, and her strength only. Not the influence her father and her deceased mother had. She carried Kusanagi on her back, and multiple weapons were hidden in her baggy kimono.

Looking at her brothers one more time, she waved at them, and left, her small boat slowly engulfed by the horizon.

~o0o~

Her dream was to be a Yonko just like her father, but to get to such a position, she knew she had to have at least a few crew mates.

So with the thought in mind, she set off, looking for someone who would be her first mate.

~o0o~

She was at an island named Bangloo, just around Christmas when she heard the screams.

"Help!! The demon's here! The snow king has come to get us all!!!" Face hardening as she heard the insult, she decided to visit, this so called 'demon', wondering if worthy to be her first mate.

"Oi. Girl. Didn't you hear them? I'm the Snow King. The Demon of winter. You shouldn't come near me." A rough, scratchy voice echoed from a cave dimly lit by the full moon.

"Well, I don't see a demon or a king, so either I'm blind or deaf." She stated simply, walking calmly into the cave, her attention fully on the fire blazing in the centre.

"Idiot." The man said from the corner. He was covered in rags, holding a shepherd's stick with his right hand. He had snow white hair and ice blue eyes, with winter pale skin, and ashen grey lips. He was handsome in his own way, that not many would understand, not even Natsuki, who was asexual. Feeling no physical attraction to anyone in her life, but she didn't care, as it let her focus on her task for the future more.

He analysed her. Her flaming red hair and porcelain white mask, her night blue eyes seen through the holes. What worried him slightly was her bare feet, which were surprisingly the only thing that looked rather rough. It was calloused and dark, with scars and stitch marks. The rest of her seemed small and vulnerable, like a small animal left in the jungle, but her feet told the stories of an aged lion, one with battles to tell, and legends of feuds, her feet were the only evidence that her life was hard. Besides, he couldn't even see her face.

"My name's Natsuki. What's yours?"

"Kurama Fuyuki." She gasped slightly, covering the mouth part of the mask. Then, she giggled.

"A man named Kurama, called a demon. I guess there is still yet to know of this world." She took off her mask, her lips were cracked, bleeding slightly, her nose and cheeks blooming red. Her breath turned white every time she exhaled, and he himself remembered to breathe.

"What's a girl like you doing here?"

"Hm? Oh, I'm looking for a ship mate to join my crew."

"You? A pirate? You're joking."

"Not in the slightest Kurama. See this? This is Kusanagi, one of the most famous katanas out there. I inherited it from my mother. I do not simply throw it around like an idiot. I haven't been training six years for nothing."

"Six years? How old are you?"

"Eighteen. You?"

"Twenty-one."

"Do you have a devil fruit?" She asked out of the blue.

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, anyone who's called a snow king and winter demon surely would have some powers? Or are the villagers that ignorant?"

"They are ignorant, but they are true. I ate the snow snow fruit when I was young. I can make blizzards appear or control the snow which is already falling. Though I haven't used this power to its fullest yet. I didn't want to accidentally hurt someone with these powers..." He tugged on the hem of his shirt, twirling the stick in his hand.

"If I asked you to be my first mate, would you consider it?" Looking as if he were punched in the gut, Fuyuki replied slowly.

"Perhaps. Though I would have to test you though." They both stood up, Fuyuki standing almost two heads taller than Natsuki, and walked out of the cave, where thirty to fifty men stood, each holding a fire brazier. They all tensed, and got into a position, holding the fire against Fuyuki.

"What's going on?" The oblivious redhead -wearing her mask again- asked.

"Get away from that demon, miss! He's dangerous! He killed my son the moment he ate that fruit!" The man explained.

"How did your son die?"

"He got lost in a snowstorm and never came back!"

"So he was the one who was controlling the snow, and killed all your loved ones?" She reconfirmed.

"Yes! Now come closer, he's right behind you!"

"Don't think so. You have made three mistakes. One: you blame a natural disaster on a boy, who had the ability, but didn't use it. Two: you ganged up on him, as if it's fair. Third: you dared to say the d-word in front of me."

"D-word? As in Demon?"

"Oops, you've done it again! I hate that word. Once the whole village tortured me using that word, you see. Didn't leave a nice ring in my ears." Cracking her knuckles, she got into a stance, took out a single kunai, and attacked.

She fought with grace as if it were a ballroom. She did an outside spin, cloning her kunai to accurately pin someone to a tree, aiming at his clothes, then whisked to the side, knocking three people out with the knob of her kunai, then an open hip twist to another man who tried to attack with his fire, kicking his shin, and as he doubled over, punched his stomach. She sidestepped and naturally turned, spot turning and swinging out.

She did a somersault, landing in the middle of unconscious bodies, her hands in the air, as she finished her battle dance routine. Her back felt slightly damp from the exercise, but she walked to her possible future crew mate, and smiled.

"Is that enough proof?"

"Hmm. I guess so. Though I would say, you need more training with your arms. They're not handling the weight very well. You've been forcing your body to train haven't you? That's why you're not growing properly. Your muscles have been developed at an early age, that your body has decided that it doesn't need to grow anymore." He explained. Natsuki smiled.

"Would that make you my first mate!?"

"Alright... You win... Captain." He smiled softly, patted her head, and walked away from the cave he lived in for so many years. Leaving the past behind, walking to the new future. 


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise I will save you,  
> When you cannot stay afloat,  
> And if your tears can fill an ocean  
> Then for you I'll be a boat.
> 
> -e.h

Fuyuki and Natsuki fit in like a key and a lock. They got along well, with near equal power, though Natsuki was a smidge stronger in strength, Fuyuki had the experience. She gradually opened up, telling stories of her past as if it were a legend, and one day, told him the truth.

"What's the story today Natsu?"

"Hm?"

"You know, the ones about the boy called Naruto, and how he was rejected by the village for having a demon beast sealed in him."

"You really like those stories don't you Fuyu?"

"It reminds me of my mum. She used to tell me stories." He admitted, and Natsuki's face became softer.

"Well, today's story is going to be about Naruto's first kill. Remember the story when Mizuki manipulated him to steal the scroll of hidden jutsus? Well, a few years later, when he was running away from more villagers, he was backed up to a corner, and look who it is, the one holding a small sword at his face, the one and only bastard, Mizuki himself." Fuyuki listened to the story, his whole attention on her, and her voice. He smirked when he heard the similarity between all three of their names though.

Natsuki, Fuyuki and Mizuki. Tuning back in on her story, he found himself lost in the world of ninjas once more.

_"Mizuki left scars all over his body, and Naruto couldn't stand it. For the first time, he let all his anger loose. He let the demon control his body, evil chakra filling the atmosphere._

_Now, though he was called the demon beast, the fox demon was truthfully, one of the most compassionate beings you could ever meet. He wasn't good at expressing it though. Through curses and growls he would tell you his love, through sneers and jeers he would show you his true nature. So what the villagers had been doing to the poor boy only added a new reason to kill them._

_The nine tailed fox would make them unconscious, all except one. He receded back into Naruto's seal, and let him choose what to do next._

_Mizuki laid there on the ground, looking at his fallen friends with broken eyes._

_'You! You killed them!'_

_'Mizuki-sensei, I'm not that powerful! What do you mean!?' Naruto, totally clueless about the situation, had no idea what on earth was going on, with memories from when the beast controlled him, gone._

_'You really are a demon!'_

_'No I'm not!' Naruto pushed Mizuki onto his arse, and tried to walk away, his mind still like a maze._

_'Never face your enemy with your back!' Mizuki yelled, and tried attack Naruto once more, but when Naruto surprisingly kicked his stomach, causing him to double over and let go of the knife, what he didn't expect was that knife to be taken by Naruto. 'Are you going to use it! Like the true demon you are!? Go on! You'll only further prove the point that you're a devil in disguise!'_

_'NO!' Naruto tried to drop the weapon, but Mizuki, like the dumb man he was, stabbed his chest with the knife._

_'Now, you're the murderer!'_

_'What have you done!?'_

_'Killing myself for you, so that you will be the wearer of this sin.' Mizuki answered. 'You're never going to a Hokage you demon! A Hokage must never kill his own people! Good luck with that you fucker!'_

_'No! No! No! You can't do that!' Naruto shook the body of Mizuki, but what was done could not be reversed. Mizuki lay on the ground, coldly, like his heart used to be. 'You destroyed everything!!!'_

_Naruto took the knife, which was on the ground, and stabbed Mizuki multiple times all over his body. Another five minutes later, there was a bloody mangled body next to a blond-haired boy with three whisker marks on each cheek, his face and clothes splattered with blood._

_Looking at what he had just done, Naruto ran, ran far from the scene, running to the woods, which became thicker with trees as he ran more, turning into a forest._

_He broke down crying, his sobs echoing and amplifying, until a few ninjas could detect the noise. They leapt to the forest only for the noise to die down. A few moments later, of simple tracking, they found a young boy around the age of twelve, covered from head to toe in blood, his body spasming._

_That was the first time he lost control of the demon, though there was one more time. The time when he thought everything would be alright again._

_He overheard his parents plotting something. Plotting to send him to another dimension; a place where their son wouldn't be their problem anymore._

_He lost it once more. They betrayed him. They convinced him that they loved him once more. He gave them a second chance, but it was gone._

_Letting loose the mighty beast of nine tails, the Hokage and his wife used the jutsu on Naruto, and I was sent to this dimension."_

"I? Why you? Isn't this a story?" Natsuki smiled sadly.

"I've been in this world for only nine years."

"But you're eighteen! Don't tell me you grow twice as quickly?"

"Not at all Fuyu. I am simply from another world. One with ninjas. A world where Uzukaze Naruto existed. A world where I lived in, before I became, well, me."

"So you're saying..."

"Yes. I was Uzukaze Naruto. Son of Uzukaze Kushina and Minato, leaders of the village hidden in the leaves, the holder of the nine-tailed fox demon, Kurama. Now, I'm simply a girl who wishes to be the fifth pirate emperor, who promised to fulfil my dream to my father and my late brother. I'm pleased to meet you, my dear first mate, Kurama Fuyuki. My name is now, Akagami D. Natsuki." She said dramatically, taking a large bow at the man.

She laughed at his gaping face, and made a clone, making it look identical to Fuyuki. "That's what you look like right now!!!" She laughed some more when his eyes bulged further.

"You can still do ninjutsu!?"

"Of course! As I said, I came to this world as a child, not a new-born baby with no memory. This world seems to be the opposite of mine, because I was awful at jutsus before, but now I'm great!" She twirled Kusanagi around her arms, when she tensed, along with Fuyuki.

"Who's there! We know you're there." Fuyuki yelled, though slightly unsure. There was something about the person's haki which made it difficult to sense them, but

"How did you know?" A young boy, around the age of Luffy walked out, with shoulder length green hair which was tied in a low ponytail. He had a small sword by his hip, and a gun in his hand, but he didn't seem to have the confidence to wield the weapons.

"We could sense you."

"That's impossible!!" He yelled, a blush creeping up his neck and ears.

"Hm? How so?"

"Urm..."

"You're like me aren't you?" Fuyuki interrupted.

"So he's a devil fruit user, I'm guessing. Or were you trying to say that he's also a boy, like you, or he's dumb, like you? There are many possibilities out there Fuyu, get to the point!" Natsuki sassily said.

"Oh shut up. He's a devil fruit user."

"What m-makes you t-think that!?"

"First, you're stuttering. Second, you were surprised that we could sense you. Meaning you're used to people not noticing."

"Well..."

"Give us an answer boy! We haven't got all day!"

"Alright! Yes! I am a devil fruit user! Happy!?"

"Very. Are you? You seem quite angry with all that shouting. Shall I get you some water to calm your nerves?" She snarked once more.

"No need. Who are you?"

"Why doesn't anyone have any manners! It's common knowledge to say your own name when asking for other's."

"Okay! Calm down! Geez! My name's Haruki."

"Oh my god... Fuyu, do you think this is Kami telling us to name our crew, the seasonal pirates or something? Because it's working..."

"Maybe captain. Maybe. My name's Fuyuki, kid. Good to meet you."

"I'm Natsuki. So, since we're on the subject, would you like to become a pirate?"

"No! Pirates are vile, insolent monsters! They use others for their own disposal and kill people relentlessly!"

"Ah. I've never done that. Have you Fuyu?"

"Nope. I was accused of those though."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're a bit thick aren't you? I'm saying that we're pirates, and that I want you to join our two-man, well one-woman, one-man group!" The boy, now blue in face, ran past the groups of people at the port, where Natsuki and Fuyuki's ship rocked in the sea. 


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How could someone like you  
> Know what it's like to fail  
> To think you're the only one,  
> Left to rewrite the tale.  
> To have to retell the legend,  
> You thought your life was about,  
> Only to be told it depends,  
> If the story was with you, or without.
> 
> -noelicoan

The shimmer of green hair merged with the trees, and he completely disappeared. Natsuki and Fuyuki were still able to sense him through their observational haki and followed him on silent feet.

Though Natsuki was thankful, she did wonder who taught Fuyuki how to use haki, and especially in his case, how he was so good at it. She dismissed the thought for now, but the question remained at the back of her head.

"Sir! They seem to be pirates sir!" Haruki yelled, reappearing in front of a massive man, wearing the words of justice on his back.

"Pirates?" Natsuki shivered at the man's voice. It was deep and gravelly, with willpower enough to send a man to eternal sleep.

"Yes sir!"

"Found out which ones?"

"They were talking about the seasonal pirates sir!"

"Seasonal? Do you know why?"

"Their captain, a girl wearing a fox mask said her name was Natsuki, sir!"

"Heh, Natsuki, the season of summer, eh?"

"Yes sir! Also, her first mate's name was Fuyuki, sir!"

"The season of winter... Aren't you perfect for them? You're a season yourself aren't you?"

"Though my name means the season of spring, I will never betray you, sir!"

"Good to hear Haruki. Have you found their whereabouts Haruki?"

"They were hiding in a cave sir."

"It doesn't seem to be the case anymore Haruki. They're here." Haruki immediately got into a stance, and Natsuki smirked. She looked at Fuyuki, who took out his Shepherd's stick. They walked into the marine base, which seemed temporary, looking at the white tents and marines unloading luggage from the ships.

"Natsuki, Fuyuki; captain and first mate of the seasonal pirates I presume?"

"Haven't decided on that name yet old man. Also, may we have your camouflaging soldier over there? Then we'll be on our way." Natsuki smiled under her mask.

"No way! You won't give me away, right sir?" Haruki desperately asked.

"Calm yourself Haruki. Pirate, how long have you been training?"

"For six years, though if you count my small lessons I had in my previous ship, it would be nine years."

"You surely can't be older than twenty? Or else that would mean you have been training before the age of ten!" Haruki voiced the vice admiral's desired question, or what he thought it would be.

"Yes. I'm eighteen."

"How has your training been Natsuki?"

"Want to test it?"

"Haven't had a good spar in ages! Let's see how much you've grown Natsuki!" The two people ran at each other, meeting at the middle with their fists. Both Fuyuki and Haruki were completely lost.

She attacked with shining black fists, and he blocked and parried, also using the same technique on his hands. It seemed to last forever, until the old marine officer decided to go on the offence.

He tried a right punch at her jaw, which she quickly jumped away from, but somehow got the damage; and now the officer looked to be on the winning side. Then, Natsuki slung Kusanagi in its sheath at him, coating the weapon with her haki. He caught it with both hands, and when he did so, she let go of her weapon, sending a powerful kick to his torso. She caught her katana and swung at his head as he doubled over, stopping it a mere inch away from his neck.

She offered him a hand, and he took it gladly.

Haruki was gaping at the girl, who just defeated the man he admired for many years, Fuyuki was gaping at her friendliness with the marine, as though he knew little, one of the things he _did_ know about her, was her hatred for proud marines.

"Ojii-chan! You weren't using your full power! That's unfair!" Haruki sighed in relief. So he was just toying with her!

"You weren't either."

"Touché" Haruki's reaction was incredibly funny, I couldn't even describe it with words. "How have you been Ojii-chan?"

"Same old, same old Natsuki. How's Ace and Luffy?"

"Haven't seen them in a while. What's the month?"

"December, just that it's quite warm on this island."

"Ooh, that means Ace will be leaving soon!"

"God. I will not be looking forward to that..."

"Really? I would!" The two of them were talking for another few minutes, with a group of marines and one pirate staring at them.

"Vice admiral! What is the meaning of this!?" A braver soldier asked.

"Hm? What are you talking about?"

"Why haven't you captured this pirate already?"

"Why should I?"

"Because they're pirates sir!"

"May I ask you, if you have ever heard of the seasonal pirates?"

"No sir!"

"Have you ever heard of an evil rumour from them?"

"No sir."

"Have you seen them do anything bad?"

"They attacked you, sir!"

"Of course she did." His answer brought many questions to mind. "She's my granddaughter." Silence followed for a few moments.

"EEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHH!?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!??"

Natsuki glared at Monkey D. Garp.

"Ojii-chan! You didn't have to say that! You know how I wouldn't want a bounty just because of your titles!"

"Oh, right. Everyone, forget what I just said!" The look on their faces brought even Fuyuki to smile. Natsuki looked at Fuyuki kindly. He should do that more. He looked happier, and more peaceful in general.

"Why are you here Ojii-chan?"

"There was a report that there were a group of men who were terrorising the islanders here."

"Alright. May I?"

"It would be much appreciated." Natsuki looked at Fuyuki, who made a small blizzard under their feet. The two of them flew up into the sky, and from that point, looked over the entire island. The saw a small village on the other end, and saw a trail of smoke coming from the direction, along with the sound of an explosion.

"Fuyu, go there! Quickly!" She instructed, and the small snow storm flew over the forest to a village on fire. The snow slowly but surely doused the fire, and meanwhile, Natsuki ran around the place, gathering all the men who had started the assault.

"Who are you!" One of the terrorists yelled.

"You know what, I'm not going to even correct your manners." Natsuki sighed as she gathered the last of the men, tying the last one's hands behind his back, just like she did with the others. "We're the seasonal pirates."

The marines who, ignoring Garp's order of staying away from his granddaughter, arrived by Natsuki, looked at the scene with wonder.

It was completely white, with snow still falling, the children laughing and playing with a tall man who had ice white hair, holding a long stick which had a crooked end. In another corner, there was a redheaded girl wearing a mask, lecturing a group of men at least double her age, who all had their hands tied behind them. They looked like a bunch of school kids listening to their teacher.

Haruki who was also with the other soldiers; wondered why pirates were helping them with their job. He was lost in his past, which was triggered by the thought of pirates.

_All he heard were screams of his neighbours, his friends, his friend's parents, his parent's customer's. His parent's screams weren't one of them, as they were both brave people, his father fighting pirates, his mother guiding the screaming people away from the danger._

_Another hour later, after hiding under his bed, he heard the door being kicked open, and a bunch of men walked in. He became an even smaller ball, crying softly into his knees._

_"So this is the house of that bastard and that bitch! Those two caused some trouble for us! Well, at least we can have fun with the woman." The man slurred, popping open a bottle of beer with his teeth, and spitting the top onto the floor._

_"Sex with a dead woman? You sure do stand for your name of the Necrophiliac pirate!" One of the pirates said to their captain._

_Though having no idea what the words they said meant, the way they said it disgusted the four-year-old boy. He tried to slid away from the room, over to the window, but his clumsiness only did him bad._

_"Oi! What's there!?"_

_"It's a boy!"_

_"Do you think it's that bitch's son!? Ooh! What a sight it would be for the poor poor boy!" The captain said with a voice dripping with falseness._

_"Let's show them to him boss! His reaction should be worth watching!" One of the subordinates suggested. So Haruki was dragged outside, where two people were dangling on a wooden stick._

_Their heads were severed off, pierced by the tip of the stick. Both naked, and bleeding so much, that the ground beneath them was practically a red carpet. His eyes burning, bleeding, blurring so much, he stared at the corpses of his parents, his soul sucked away at the sight._

_The howls and yowls of laughter from the pirates combined with the gruesome sight churned in his mind, brewing the perfect combination of trauma._

"-ki! -aruki!! Haruki!!! Wake up! Haruki!" He awoke from his daze, staring at a woman with porcelain skin and dark blue eyes.

"Mother?" He asked, but when red hair came into view, he dismissed the thought.

"Are you alright Haruki?" The woman asked, and he nodded groggily.

"How do you know my name?"

"What? Oh, my mask is off!" She got out a familiar fox mask, slid it in front of her face, and everything clicked.

"Natsuki-san!?"

"Yes, it is moi." She joked, taking her mask off again. What came to his eyes first was her small tattoo. It could be no larger than a coin, but it was still there. He couldn't describe why, but he felt it had quite a great significance. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, thank you. Just some memories."

"I understand." The single comment she made boiled his nerves.

"What would you know! I bet you're some girl who doesn't know pain! Who's been protected by her grandfather her whole life! Who doesn't know what it feels like to be powerless! Who hasn't seen a loved one die! Who doesn't know how much it takes to hate someone _so_ much!!! How can you, much less imagine, than understand, how I feel like!"

"What would you-" Fuyuki started, but Natsuki stopped him with a wave of her hand. She looked at Garp, who nodded solemnly. She held Haruki's arm, and disappeared in a yellow streak. 


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I shall drink your wine  
> take away your food,   
> deprive you of shelter  
> and dry up your well.  
> You have hurt me  
> just once, and must pay  
> to the distant day  
> when you manage to give  
> me the flagon of peace,   
> only Hemlock will silence  
> the hatred in me.
> 
> -Herbert Nehrlich

The two of them reappeared at the cave where Natsuki and Fuyuki were found by Haruki, earlier in the day.

Haruki gagged, nearly throwing up, then ended up puking in a nearby bush.

"What did you-"

"Listen boy-"

"I'm not a-"

"Listen boy! Do you think you're the most unfortunate in the entire world?"

"Of course not! There are tonnes of other children younger than me who have seen their parents die in front of their eyes."

"Then why do you act like you're the most unfortunate in the world?"

"No I don't!"

"Oh really? Then what was it that I heard earlier I wonder? _'What would you know! I bet you're some girl who doesn't know pain! Who's been protected by her grandfather her whole life! Who doesn't know what it feels like to be powerless! Who hasn't seen a loved one die! Who doesn't know how much it takes to hate someone so much!!! How can you, much less imagine, than understand, how I feel like!'_ Was it?" She imitated.

"How'd you remember what I said?"

"Not the point. So, just looking at me, you assumed that I was some sheltered girl who hasn't seen death?"

"Well, that's not what I said..."

"It's what you connoted. Firstly, I know pain. I was neglected by my parents for nearly my whole life, well, my first pair of parents, and I was treated like a demon by the rest of the villagers. Now, that won't compare to what you've seen and experienced. Of course not. From what you seem to be experiencing, what you remember is far worse.

Next thing, I haven't been protected by my grandfather my whole life. He wasn't there most of the time because of his duties. Besides, you see these scars on my body? Half were made by him.

Also, you shouldn't challenge me when it comes to feeling powerless. When I was twelve, my father's arm was torn off, because I wasn't strong enough. I saw my brother die in front of my eyes because I was powerless... I saw my village burn because of my ignorance.

As I just said, I have seen a loved one die. He was one year younger than me. When he was twelve, he was gone. Also, to hate someone? Shall I just briefly explain the person I hate the most? Because if I'm going to have to list the people I hate, we'd be here for a very long time... Well, the person I hate the most, well, is a group of people I guess. In the last place, it was my whole village who tortured me, those who tricked me, those who forgot about me, and in this place, I hate the world government! They killed my brother, and I will avenge him! Is what I want to say, but revenge is bad." Haruki looked up.

"Why do you say revenge is bad?" Truthfully, he wanted to know her response toward revenge, since that was what he had planned against the pirates who killed his parents.

"Of course it's bad. You know, a friend I once had, Sasuke. He came from a prestigious clan. He was like a noble in my village. Though when he and I were seven years old, his older brother, a trained assassin, killed their entire clan, leaving him on his own. He sought for revenge on his brother, and when I was fifteen, Sasuke killed his brother, only to find out, that there was a reason behind the assassination, and it was done to protect him. He regrets it so much.

Now, I'm not saying that what the pirates did was forgivable, nor was it done to protect you, or to teach you an important lesson. Though what I can tell you, is that revenge is never the answer. It is a wrong step in life, that no one should ever take. After killing them, what satisfaction would you get? Your family aren't coming back. All that's going to happen, is a whole lot more deaths. So, if you still think avenging your family is what you believe your family would've wanted, then fine! I won't stop you. Though please. Consider what your father would've wanted you to do. What your mother would've wanted you to do. I'm sure you will find your answer there."

Natsuki stood up, looked at him directly in the eyes, smiled, then disappeared in a crack of lightning.

* * *

A few hours later, Haruki walked down from the mountain, a determined look on his face.

"Vice admiral Garp! I have found the purpose of life I sought for many years sir!"

"And?"

"I want to, no. I will leave the Marines to pursuit this dream, sir!"

"That dream is?"

"To find the pirates who haunt me, and put them in their rightful place, sir!"

"Can't you do so as a marine soldier?"

"I doubt they are in this side of the vast ocean, sir! I will go to the Grand line!"

"Hm, you're right. Under me, you cannot go to the Grand line without the strength. So, what are you going to do?"

"He can join us?" Natsuki said with a grin that split from ear to ear. You could only describe her as fox-like.

"Natsuki, you little schemer! I bet you used that silver tongue of yours to get him on your crew!" Garp laughed at his granddaughter. She truly was as sly as a fox.

"You know me well, Ojii-chan."

"I will not become a pirate!"

"Gosh! I thought you would've already known that not all pirates are bad!"

"I couldn't. I can't become a pirate to defeat another."

"That's the best part though! If you're a marine, or some sort of official, if you kill them, even with reasons, it would be unjust, since you marines believe these people must atone for their sins, but if you're a pirate, and you accidentally kill another pirate, then it would just be seen as a cat fight!" A moment later, Haruki let out a big sigh.

"Alright... I'll join you guys..."

"YAYYY!!! Fuyuki! We got another crew mate! One more till we're the full season! Do you think there will be an Aki, along the way?"

"Autumn? Hm, Fairly common name. Wouldn't be surprised if there were a pirate named Aki..."

"True. So, where's the ship?"

"There." She pointed at the dock, which had a single fishing boat, rather small, with a single mast.

"That? That's so small though!" Natsuki glared at him.

"Extremely sorry, I'll go get a much larger ship! Whoops! I forgot! There are no places which sell ships on this island!" She sarcastically replied. Fuyuki found it interesting how since Haruki got involved, she was acting with sass an snark whilst before, she was rather calm. Perhaps he reminded her of her younger brothers.

"There are." Garp interrupted.

"What?"

"I'm saying, that I will give you one of my ships."

"Ojii-chan... I couldn't."

"Yes you could. Now take it before I give you a new training regime!"

"Yes sir!" The cold sweat which appeared on her forehead seemed only visible to her crew.

So they ended up getting one of the largest ships he owned, to which many of his soldiers complained. Natsuki apologised to them personally, and they all didn't seem to mind after that.

It had a deck which could fit at least one hundred people, four masts with gigantic sails, two crows nests, and cannons on the side, and front. The sail was left blank for them to choose what to draw. They explored the inside, which had a whole lot of space, with five rooms aside from the captain's cabin. There was a kitchen, a larder, a hold and a forecastle, nothing was left behind.

It was well equipped, the larder full, and the rooms with bedding, even a table and a map with a compass to plan journeys in the captain's cabin. Natsuki hugged her grandfather tightly.

"Now, I'm going to be reporting this as a theft alright? So, don't blame me when you get a bounty."

"It's a small price to pay." She admitted. Her first crime, to 'steal' a ship from her grandfather. How pathetic, yet it seemed somehow, right. Like it defined what kind of a pirate she was. A pirate who was good.

"I'm gonna miss you, my sneaky little vixen!"

"I'll miss you too Ojii-chan!" Natsuki stood on her tip toes and hugged her grandfather dearly.

"Next time I see you, better grow up." He teased.

"I will! Since I have these two boys to protect me as I eat healthily!" She replied with an eye roll.

"Haha! Don't cause too much havoc! I'll have to watch out for Ace soon as well!"

"You sure do Ojii-chan! See you on the other side!"

"See you too vixen!"

The three of them boarded the ship, and looked down at the troops.

"Thank you! Goodbye!" She waved at them, and they saluted back at her.

"No supper for a week for saluting to a pirate!" They heard Garp yell, and they laughed with each other, on a journey to find their last crew mate, to complete the full season. 


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Hold on, hold on, hold on" they said,  
> "You're a dandelion in the breeze,  
> Look what the winds of change have done  
> To all these autumn leaves."
> 
> "Hold on, hold on, hold on,  
> The big wide world is not for you,  
> Hold on for long enough  
> For the last gust to dance on through."
> 
> So I held on, held on, held on,  
> They said that's how you know you're strong,  
> But not until I wilted  
> Did I notice something wrong.
> 
> I thought holding on was bravery,  
> But when winds of change do blow,  
> Sometimes it's even braver still  
> To let go, let go, let go.
> 
> -e.h

It has been three weeks since Haruki joined the seasonal pirates. As Garp had predicted, soon after, Natsuki, Fuyuki, and surprisingly, Haruki got a bounty.

None of them knew where they got the pictures from, but thankfully, for Natsuki, the picture they chose was one which showed her power, but not her identity. It was her, wearing her battle kimono, with her mask on. Both kimono and mask splattered with the blood of her enemies. She blanched when she saw the picture. To have to see herself, after what she would call as a shameful act.

The people she had killed in the picture, were slave traders, trading small children along with people from different tribes. She now carried the bounty of 50,000,000 berries on her neck, with the name, the _Striking Vixen_. She wouldn't be surprised if it were her grandfather who decided the name.

Fuyuki also got a bounty, by the name _Jack Frost_ , and the amount of 40,000,000 berries on his neck, and Haruki, got the name of _Ryokuryuu_ , the green dragon. Apparently it had derived from his long green hair, which trailed behind him when he ran. He received the bounty of 27,000,000 berries. Complaining about the lack of money on his head, he even tried to go to a marine base to change it, but after Natsuki's constant convincing that it was only because of his age, he gave up, and accepted the price.

Natsuki, remembering her question from before, one day asked Fuyuki where his training with haki came from.

"Hm? Oh, that. I learnt it from a pirate a long time ago. When I was around sixteen? A pirate with a scar on his left eye with one arm taught me how to teach haki. He's the only one other than you who wasn't scared of my powers." He smiled, and Natsuki decided to keep the fact that he was her father quiet for now.

One day, when they were getting food on an island next to the final island of Logue Town, before entering the Grand line, they heard a yell from a man, and a girl with dark brown hair run past them. Natsuki placed a seal on the girl just in case, and tripped the man running after her on purpose, before paying for the food, and walking away.

"What have you done! You let that little thief get away!" Steam coming out of his ears like a train, the man roared at Natsuki. Fuyuki and Haruki standing protectively in front of her made her smile a bit.

"Oh my goodness! She was a thief!? I would've stopped her if I'd known! I'm so sorry sir! It was completely an accident!" She cried, causing Haruki and Fuyuki to cringe. She was a brilliant actress, her abilities able to trick them too.

"It's alright... She only stole a few shirts this time..."

"Does she steal often?"

"Yes. She does it to feed her siblings, and we know it, but the taxes are harsh this time around. We can't just give her things she needs, even if it's for a good cause... My children aren't eating enough either..."

"Did the taxes used to be well managed before?"

"Yes. Since the previous king died, the prince, now king Kashmiri, has been giving orders which have actually been made by his adviser, who we all know is the mastermind behind this all."

"The adviser's name?"

"Toramp. He's what one would call an evil genius. Apparently, he used to be a pirate, and was in impel down for thirty years, plotting for a way to get out of there, until his time there ran out, and was released. Pretty pathetic if you ask me."

"Well, thank you for the information. Also, one more question. Are there many here who are starving?"

"Of course! We're some of the better families. There's the mayor, who's one of the best people you will ever meet, who gives all his money to the poor, then us, who have shops to get money from, then poorer families, who can barely have money for bread on the table, then there are the orphans, who are all lead by her. Aki."

Natsuki couldn't believe her ears. This must've been fate's hand, knitting their destinies toward their new crew mate.

"Thank you very much sir!" She handed him a bag full of berry coins and ran to their ship to get all their shopping on board, before holding both Fuyuki's and Haruki's shoulder's, appearing right behind a girl with mahogany brown hair.

"Agh!" The girl tripped on the root of a giant tree, though she gracefully rolled on the ground, using the momentum to pull herself up. She then picked up a branch, and swung it at Natsuki's mask, forcing it to fall off. Natsuki smirked. Even if she tried, it would be a bit difficult to avoid that swing of hers. "Where did you come from!?"

"Um, from the sea?"

"No you didn't! I was using some haki for people just in case, but you guys appeared out of nowhere!"

"You know haki?"

"Yeah. My father taught me. You know haki too?"

"My father taught me as well. These two know it as well. Though Fuyuki's better at armament haki than me, and Haruki's only just started learning haki."

"My name's Aki. Yours?"

"I'm Natsuki."

"What a coincidence! To have all four seasons!" She laughed, her green eyes sparkling.

"That's the thing Aki... Not that I'm choosing people because of their names, but um... now thinking about it, it does seem like I'm choosing my crew mates with their names doesn't it? Oh well... Would you like to become a pirate?" Natsuki asked very suddenly. She was entranced with the thought of having a pirate crew with all four seasons.

"Hm... Let me think about it. I've got brothers and sisters, well, children who are orphans like me, to look after. I like the idea in general, and I was planning on becoming a pirate myself once the children were able to care for themselves, but we kept getting more and more children in the group, I gave up on the idea..."

"I understand. May we meet with the children?"

"Of course! Come this way." Natsuki followed her, though she glanced at a certain direction. She glared at a man who was spying on them from a kilometre away, and the man fainted. It seemed, that though Aki could use observational haki, it didn't reach that far.

Fuyuki nodded in understanding, when he saw her irises turn silver. Though Haruki shuffled after Aki on swift feet, not a care in the world.

"I'm home!" Aki called out to an empty space, well, what seemed to be empty space. Natsuki and Fuyuki could sense as many as ten children hidden in the trees and bushes.

"Aki-nee!" They all tumbled out, scaring Haruki out of his wits.

"What did you bring back!?"

"Who are they?"

"What's your name!?"

A whole bunch of questions were being thrown at them, though Aki put a finger to her lips, and they silenced.

"One by one children. One by one." They raised their hands, and Aki picked on them.

"What's your name!?"

"I'm Haruki, this is Fuyuki, and this is my captain, Natsuki!"

"Are you a pirate!?"

"Yeah!"

And so the questioning went on, though after all the children stopped raising their hands, Natsuki realised a girl far at the back, cuddling a worn out teddy bear holding a small finger up. Natsuki walked over to her.

"What's your name?"

"Uki..." She said with a small voice. Natsuki had a small light bulb moment. The seasons weren't limited to four! Uki... That's the season of rain! Natsuki smiled. This certainly was the gods playing with their fates. "Are you going to take onee-chan away?" She asked with her soft voice.

"I won't if you don't want me to Uki-chan. Tell me, how old are you?"

"I'm turning ten in two months." Natsuki glanced at the teddy bear for a second but was caught by Uki. "You think it's weird right? For a girl like me to have a teddy bear, even though I'm already this big..."

"Not at all! Keep this a secret? I can't sleep without my little cuddly fox... I've been using it since I was very small, and it's a memorabilia of my mother, who died when I was very young." She patted Uki's head, who giggled in response.

"Please don't take Aki-nee away... She's the only one who protects me from the bullies..." She pointed at the group of boys behind Natsuki's back with trembling hands.

"What if I take you and Aki-nee away, so you can become stronger, so you can face the bullies in the future?" Natsuki suggested to the small blue haired girl.

"Would you really?"

"I promise." Uki smiled at Natsuki, who in return brought Uki up into her arms.

The boys looked at Uki jealously. She was having the time of her life; hanging onto Natsuki as she twirled around like a little whirlpool.

"Who do you think you are, to play with the lady like that!"

"Yeah! It's not fair!"

"What did you say to make her do that for you!" The boys argued a few hours later, whilst the seasons were out to get some dinner.

"N-nothing... She just took me and played with me..." Uki sniffled, clutching her teddy bear tightly.

"Look at you! A girl older than us, still holding a little baby toy!"

"Give that to us!" He snatched the bear away from her, but Uki wouldn't let go. "Give it!!" He yanked it with all his strength, and the bear's torso tore off from his head.

The boys, panicking, since they knew how important it was to her started making excuses. "It's your fault for not handing it over!" They ran away from the girl, who stared at her doll blankly.

Though before the boys arrived back at their camp, water began to fall. At first it was only drizzling, then it began to shower, then it was raining, then it was squalling, until there was a massive storm breaking out.

"One, two, three, four... nine. We're missing one! Who's missing?" Aki counted the children up, looking at their faces to find the missing child. "Uki! Uki!? Uki's not here!" She got out her raincoat, and tried to dash out of their hideout, when Natsuki stopped her.

"You protect the children. Haruki, you too. Fuyuki, come with me, and try and turn the water into snow." Aki tried to argue, but she couldn't, as Natsuki and Fuyuki were no longer in their sight. Not even in her sensory vision.

Natsuki reappeared in front of a crying girl, who was sitting on the floor, holding tightly onto a headless teddy bear with the stuffing falling out. Fuyuki left the two girls alone, trying to make the water turn to snow, but it wasn't working.

"Uki-chan? Do you think you'll be able to be strong?"

"J-just a lit-ttle m-more time... Please." The rain died down slightly, before it started once more, stronger than ever, as she cried into Natsuki's arms.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man's Manipulation  
> Sometimes can merit  
> Total devastation  
> Then at times  
> What we know as  
> A temporary sensation  
> All thou popular opinion  
> May never bring true  
> Vindication  
> All while never truly tapping  
> In to what, it really takes  
> In order to generate  
> A positive stream of enterprises   
> To flow  
> Through 't the nations
> 
> -Angel A. Lockwood

Uki calmed down after a while, and all the rain died out, the sun shining through the clouds as she hiccoughed.

"Uki-chan, have you ever had a fruit which looks really weird before? It probably tasted disgusting as well."

"Um... I did eat a weird swirly fruit when I was small, by accident."

"Ah. Well, Uki-chan. Have you ever heard of a devil fruit?"

"No. Why?"

"Well, they're fruits which grant people special powers. Like Fuyuki, he can control snow." Fuyuki smirked, and opened his hand, where a small snowman formed. Uki momentarily forgot about her broken doll, fascinated by it. "We think, that you may have eaten the rain fruit. The, ame ame no mi. Not the candy fruit, which would also be the ame ame no mi, but yours is the rain fruit, which was thought to be a legend. It allows the user to make it rain at any strength and speed they want, and also choose who not to get wet., along with what type of liquid to make rain."

"What makes you think I ate it?"

"I have a feeling that the fruit responds to your emotions, because you haven't done any training to control this power. When you were crying, the rain started, and it got worse and worse, as you cried more and more."

"What a sad fruit..." Uki sympathised.

"Though I would think of it as one of the strongest fruits out there Uki. The fruit is a logia fruit, meaning no one can touch you unless they can use haki, which for instance, Fuyuki, Aki, and I can use. Also, since your body will become water, technically, you will not drown, since you will only reform, rather than get captured in the sea demons' curse."

"Curse?"

"You see, a devil fruit is-" Natsuki started a story about the fruits, as she sent a silent message to Fuyuki, who complied; walking back to the base camp for the children.

"Uki! Did you find Uki!?" A girl, around the age of seventeen, with moss green eyes and tree bark brown hair asked.

"Calm down Aki. She's fine. Natsuki's calming her down. She was fairly upset because her cuddle toy broke."

"Shun! Shouhei! Genki! Issa! Come here, right now!" She yelled, and four boys inched their way forward, all glancing at their feet with fear and nervousness. "You four should know that the toy you tried to snatch away was the only thing she had left of her parents!" They looked down guiltily.

"It's alright Aki-nee. I need to grow up." Uki said.

"Uki! Where were you!? I was so worried!" Aki almost crushed the season of rain with her hug.

"I'm sorry Aki-nee. I was with Natsu-nee." She smiled brightly, and Aki sent a thankful nod to Natsuki.

"What were you two doing?"

"I told her that I wanted to join her pirate crew!"

"You what!? Natsuki! Surely you didn't tell her that she could join!"

"It's her own decision along with mine Aki. Not yours. I understand that you're overprotective of the children, but sometimes you have to let go."

"I thought you wanted me on your crew, take me! Not her."

"Well, personally, I would take the both of you, but what would the rest do without you?"

"We'll be fine." Shun, the leader of the bullies and the children interrupted.

"You're only a child! But I can't leave Uki! Argh! You're all making this so hard for me!!!" Aki complained.

"It's alright Aki. We can take care of ourselves. You go with Uki. We know you always wanted to be a pirate."

"Bu-" Aki was interrupted by Fuyuki and Natsuki suddenly yelling at them to get down.

 _"What's going on?"_ Aki whispered.

_"There are around fifty men nearby."_

_"Schist. Those are the king's men. They come once in a month, but normally it's not this early."_

_"Do you mean king Kashmiri?"_

_"Yeah. Heard of him?"_

_"The one who's basically being manipulated by his adviser?"_

_"Yeah. The adviser's the actual one who sends men after us."_

_"Aki, Haruki, you two attack them. I want to see how much you can hold on your own."_

_"You can't tell me what to do!"_ Autumn whispered harshly at Natsuki, who calmly slid her mask on.

_"Well, you see. I kinda can. I'm your captain now, remember?"_

_"I didn't agree yet!"_

_"You were going to."_ Uki inserted. Aki begrudgingly admitted it, and swiftly ran closer to the men along with Haruki.

The two of them were strong as a pair. Haruki attacked openly, slicing the men down with his sword, and punching them with armament haki, which was still rather unstable. He lacked experience, but was spontaneous and unpredictable, reminding Natsuki of herself, as Naruto. He disappeared in and out through his attacks, camouflaging himself.

Aki, on the other hand, didn't have the element of surprise, but covered it with her experience by her fists and haki. She used what looked similar to the Hyuga-clan's gentle fist style, coating her fists with haki. She weaved around the men, hitting parts of their body, making them immobile.

After another minute or so, all the men were on the ground, Spring and Autumn, breathing heavily.

"Well done, Haru, Aki. Haruki, you still need improvement in using your devil fruit, along with your ability with a sword, but well done with the haki. Considering how you only began learning it recently, you've made excellent progress. Keep up the great work! Aki. You're certainly amazing with your hands only, but you're a little bit too stiff. I think a training regime, focusing on your legs and some on flexibility would do you good. But all in all, both of you well done!" Natsuki praised, and both seasons wondered if this was what it felt like to have an older sibling.

Fuyuki nodded at the two seasons in absolute silence, which would've scared them, if it weren't for Uki, giggling on his shoulders, pulling his hair in all directions, yelling at him to run up the hill. Aki and Haruki smiled, high fiving each other.

"This is cute and all, but captain?" Fuyuki reminded, gently placing Uki back on the ground.

"I know. Haru, Aki, Uki. Fuyuki and I will be back in a mo. Stay with the children for a while. We've got business to attend to." Natsuki grinned, grabbed Fuyuki's shoulder, and they both disappeared.

Summer and winter reappeared in front of a massive castle, with tall titanium gates, and guards on each pillar. Each guard within sight became tense, readying their spears at the intruders, though they all collapsed within seconds, as Natsuki's eyes turned silver.

"When did you come here?"

"I was bored. That answer your question?"

"Yup."

Fuyuki took Natsuki's arm and floated over the gates, into the castle grounds. The place was absolutely silent, without a whistle of a wind, or a chirp from a bird to be heard. Though the two of them weren't stupid. Natsuki made a shadow clone, and let it walk through the pathway.

Almost immediately, machine guns, lasers, traps and holes appeared, the clone popping to its 'death'. Next, Natsuki sent another clone to jump high into the air. This time, arrows, bullets and tranquilliser darts were shot at it, the clone popping again.

"So, how do you think we should enter?"

"Well, my clone noticed that there were no bones at the bottom of the hole, and nor do I see any faults in this garden, so that means there's someone who cleans the place, or at least checks the intruders. So why not go with the easiest? We drop down the hole and wait for the audience with the king and his adviser."

"Oh no..." Fuyuki already regretted coming with her, when she grabbed his neck and sped forward, jumping down the massive hole.

They landed with a thud, to a stone-cold floor, chilling them to the bone. Teeth chattering, face discolouring, feet shuffling, Natsuki glared at Fuyuki, who was having his silent revenge. So soon enough, the cold air died down to a normal temperature, and another pair of feet were heard to be coming closer to them.

That someone coming closer, was holding a lamp high above his head, allowing Natsuki and Fuyuki to realise that they were behind bars.

"Who are you?"

"For Kami's sake! When you want someone else's name, you tell them your own!" Natsuki said for what felt like the thousandth time.

"You're not in a position to be able to say that." He countered, pushing up his glasses.

"True. Well, my name is Summer. His is Winter."

"Hm. You don't seem to be lying. Very well. My name is Toramp. I am the adviser if King Kashmir."

"Oh, the one who used to be a pirate?"

"How- I mean, yes. I was, in the impel down for thirty years." He stumbled, and Natsuki's suspicions started.

"We came here to see the king."

"Why on earth would you want to do that?"

"Because I can. According to this kingdom's law, any person is allowed to seek the audience of the king, as long as it is a valid reason. I have a valid reason, so why can't I meet him? Is there a reason why I cannot?"

"No. Not at all. I'm sorry for the traps, times are getting difficult, with all the people wanting to hunt the king down."

"Of course." Natsuki smiled with one hundred percent insincerity. Fuyuki was just, there. Looking at his captain with hidden awe and humour, feeling lucky to be her first mate.

The man, Toramp, got out the keys and opened the barred exit, letting the two of them out, warily staring at Fuyuki, who was a head taller than him.

"Where is the king?"

"Oh, this way." The man adjusted his glasses with the palm of his hands, and walked down the half-lit corridors with two seasons in his wake. 


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 11:59 pm
> 
> In one minute, or  
> Sixty seconds, or  
> Sixty thousand milliseconds,   
> Today will be gone  
> And today will be yesterday and  
> Tomorrow will be today.  
> It's kind of terrifying when you think about it.  
> Terrifying in the way that everything   
> You did today- all the   
> Lists you made,   
> Places you've been,   
> Things you've touched,  
> Scents you smelt,  
> Conversations you've had- will  
> Soon become a memory,  
> Or worse, it would be forgotten.  
> Lost amidst all your yesterdays.
> 
> Gone.
> 
> 12:00 am.
> 
> Today.
> 
> -anonymous

"Who dares interrupt the king!" A loud booming voice was heard from behind golden curtains.

"It is me, sire. Toramp."

"Ah, come in. Come in." Sitting on a massive golden throne was a very large man, with a near triple chin, with no neck at all, and a receding hairline. He stunk of sweat, and the pong of rotten breath could be smelt from where they stood, which was the other side of the massive room. He had eyes which sank to the back of his head, which sometimes twitched, and his belly could fit a whole big fat pig in without the need of digestion. There was a sludge of drool on the corner of his mouth, and his short fat legs were a long way away from the floor. He basically sank inside his throne, like one would in a comfy couch, but he was sinking into his own fat.

"Your Highness. My name is Summer. I have come to ask for a reason why you send soldiers after orphans."

"Orphans? What orphans. I have never heard of this before."

"Your Grace, it was a trivial matter, I took care of it."

"Of course you did. What a wonderful adviser you are." The man cheered from ear to ear, munching on a slab of chocolate.

"Then, Adviser Toramp. May I ask you, why do you send soldiers after the orphans?"

"Because all they do is bring this country down. They steal from the village, and live in the woods, they're basically like stray animals."

"Ah, but sir. These 'stray animals' you talk of, they are human, like you and I."

"They certainly do not act like one. A human must be civilised, with manners and knowledge, unlike the scruffy, rabid, animals they are."

"A human's quality is not measured by their civility, mannerism or knowledge, sir. They're measured by their person, compassion and kindness. Or that is what I believe."

"Oh do you now? What would a little girl like you understand about the worth of humans?"

"At least more than you."

"How dare you speak like this to me. The royal adviser of king Kashmir!"

"Yeah! How dare you speak so!" The king added sloppily.

"Well, I dared to. What are you going to do about it?" Natsuki, fed up with the king, simply used her haki on him, and he was out like a light.

"Guards!"

"They won't be coming."

"What!?" The adviser searched around the room, and certainly, the guards who stood at the walls were not there, but so was her companion, Winter. "What did you do?"

"Hm? Nothing."

"This is treason!"

"And ruthlessly attempting to murder children isn't?"

"Why do you bother!?"

"Because my crew mates' siblings' are the orphans you idiot."

"IDIOT!? I am by far an idiot! I am the second most intelligent man in the East blue!"

"Who's the first?"

"Benn Beckman..."

"You acknowledge him?"

"I attacked him as a pirate once. His strategy was flawless. We didn't stand a chance."

"Well, thank god he's my uncle then."

"What!? Benn Beckman is your uncle!?"

"Not technically, but he's my father's first mate, so kind of, yeah."

"Father's first mate... Your father- no. It can't be. You father? Your father is Red haired Shanks!?" Fuyuki, who had returned from his small journey of beating up guards gaped at Natsuki.

"Natsuki! You didn't tell me that your father was the one who taught me haki!"

"Natsuki? As in the Stri-" The man fainted, the shock from all the information getting to him.

"Sorry for not telling you Fuyu. I was going to, but we got caught up with all this stuff..."

"I'm sorry too... I didn't mean to snap like that. I'm sure you'll explain why you didn't tell us."

"Yeah. I plan to tell my full story to the rest soon."

"Well, no matter what. I've got your back captain."

"Thank you Fuyu."

"By the way, do you recognise him?"

"Yeah, well kinda. He said something about being the second smartest in the east blue, but didn't that title belong to another pirate?"

"He did stutter slightly when telling us that he was in impel down for thirty years."

"So if we decide that's a lie... Wouldn't that make him Kuro? The captain of the Black Cat pirates?"

"Who cares. He's just a small weakling anyway. He won't cause any more trouble."

"You think so?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Let's go back to autumn, spring and rain." Natsuki grabbed Fuyuki again and they disappeared in a flash of yellow. Leaving behind a captain who nearly lost one of his nine lives.

"What was this business you had?"

"Nothing much, well, boys, girls, good news! No more soldiers would go after you!"

"Really!? Yay!!!" Jumping up and down in joy, the children celebrated.

"How did you manage it?" Aki asked her captain.

"Oh, just a few bits and bobs. It was easy. Also, Fuyu, did you deactivate the traps?"

"Of course."

"So, the villagers can run the kingdom again."

The next morning, Haruki, Natsuki, Aki, Fuyuki and Uki boarded their ship, which still lacked a name.

"What are we calling it?"

"Well, we're pirates, who ride on a boat which was given by marines. Why not a joint name, Kaizoku-gunkan? Since Kaizoku is pirate, and Kaigun is marine, along with gunkan, meaning warship?"

"Yeah! I like it!"

"What about our pirate flag?"

"Well, I already thought about that one." Haruki offered a flag, with a realistic skull in front of the four seasons. Natsuki's three weapons, Kusanagi, and her two rifles positioned behind the skull.

"Isn't that focused on me too much? Also, where's Uki's season?"

"You're the one who got us all together. Of course we would! Also, I don't care!" Uki said.

"We didn't know how many more seasons are going to join, so we thought we would just use the primary four as the background."

"Okay?.."

"Natsuki, as a thank you from the children, we decided to put your, well, our flag on the front deck, to show how this island is yours. Like it would now be your property. Last night, I went to talk with the mayor, and he agreed as well, once he found out you were the one who kicked the king's ass."

"Aki! Language! There are small ears present!" She covered Uki's ears, getting a very giggly girl of rain in return.

"I'm not that small Natsu!"

"You're only nine Uki! Don't give me that look! You've got two more weeks until you become ten! I would certainly say that is small! Now, are we ready to set sail?"

"Aye captain!" Just as they all finished packing, pulled on ropes to set the sail loose, they were called by a bunch of voices.

"Aki! Uki! Good luck!!!" The whole village yelled at the same time, bringing tears to the new recruit's eyes. Soft rain began to fall, in effects of Uki's powers, but it was rain which fell from happiness, and the villagers bid their goodbyes to the pirates, who disappeared, with a rainbow forming behind them.

* * *

Another week of training and parties, the crew arrived at the ports of the town where the last Pirate King took his final breath, starting the new pirate era.

His words were scripted at the port of Logue Town, on a small metallic plate.

_"俺の財宝か？ 欲しけりゃくれてやる。探せ！ この世の全てをそこに置いてきた"_

_"My treasure? If you want it, you can have it. Search for it! I left the whole world all in that place!"_

"Well, my dear crew. I'm going to be venturing forward to the place where he left the world. Would you stay with me?"

"Never without you captain!"

"Of course."

"Why'd you think otherwise!"

"Duh." Was from a certain pirate of spring.

"Thank you. Let's go!"

They decided to enter the Grand line via the calm belt, since their ship used to be a marine's. It had sea stone on the bottom, thus allowing them to pass without the sea kings noticing. So what they had planned to do was this: to climb up the reverse mountain, but instead of going straight down, to the Grand line, go down to the West blue, and from there, enter the New world, and from their point by the reverse mountain, their journey would be short, as they would arrive at Raftel, very quickly.

They entered the reverse mountain, and when reaching the tip, they didn't change course, but went straight down to the West sea, then entered the calm belt, which had no wind, or waves.

"Everyone! We will be staying here for the next three years, as I told you beforehand. We will be training to get our standards to its highest, so that it would be worthy of the new world. Our only enemy is the occasional marine ship, which we can test our strength upon. Understood!?"

"Yes captain!"

The plan was to stay in the calm belt, where the ship would not move, as if anchored. They would train for those three years, without building reputation, but still go to islands via Natsuki's water-walking, and Fuyuki's ability to fly.

It was a strategy that Natsuki had thought of and was rather proud of. Though when she was asked about more crew mates, she wondered. What if she alone could travel the seas, gathering crews, and placing her hiraishin seal on every bit of land she sees. What if she could collect devil fruits for her crew? What if she could one day be able to proudly send off her crew mates to battle, without the worry that they would die? What if...

She whispered to the sea, "Great people do things before they're ready". Deciding that this was the most efficient way, of granting all of their dreams. 


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smooth roads never make good drivers   
> Smooth seas never make good sailors   
> Clear Skies never makes good Pilots.   
> Problem and hassle-free Life never makes a strong person   
> Be Strong enough to accept the challenges of Life   
> Don't ask Life, "Why Me?"
> 
> Instead say "Try Me!"
> 
> -anonymous

"Raise your left leg higher! You'll get greater power because of the pivot point!" Natsuki instructed Aki, who was struggling with her kicks.

In the corner of the deck, Haruki had a blindfold around his eyes, and Fuyuki standing behind him, holding his shepherd's stick with a tight grip, hacking at Haruki's defenceless back. Haruki would avoid most of the hits but would occasionally get a large bruise on his shoulder.

Uki was watching them at one of the crows nests, also keeping an eye out for marine ships. Though looking as though she was doing nothing, she actually was making it rain only on their small garden at the back of the ship, but now and then, her concentration would slip, and some droplets of water would fall on board, which was when Natsuki would go up to the crows nest, and give her some advice. Uki was also learning how to change what rained. It seemed that it was all possible with her power. So she could make different types of water rain. Such as healing water, or even polluted water; acid rain.

Aki was practising different styles of taijutsu that Natsuki had remembered from her homeland all those years ago, learning how to use her legs along with her fists to defeat opponents. Her dream was to be the best fighter in all seas.

Haruki was currently practising haki, though time to time, he would practice camouflaging completely, making his very presence disappear, which he could use against haki-users. He still had his dream of defeating the pirates who murdered his parents, though he only used it as an excuse to stay a pirate, which he now enjoyed being.

Natsuki was improving her skills of shadow clones, and the few jutsus she remembered in the spur of the moment. She would sometimes practice her shooting skills by testing it on a fully camouflaged Haruki, who would also get some training done, as he had to fully coat his body with armament haki, and camouflage at the same time. She would also have frequent spars with Fuyuki, who would fight back with his stick, covered in haki.

Fuyuki was using his powers over snow to try and freeze the ocean. Though he had no power over ice, he could make his snow incredibly cold, and then freeze the sea successfully. It only worked on the sea which was calm, so time to time, Natsuki would jump around on the water to create disruptions.

What Natsuki had been doing as well, was to travel around the oceans. She had used her speed to get past the whole of the Grand line, disguised as a different person for each and every island she went to. She had a seal on every single island in the Grand line, other than the New World, which she planned to travel when she was slightly stronger.

After a year of this, together with additions to Uki's training, Natsuki decided it was time to gather new crew mates, and perhaps raise each of their bounties, as well as get some money on each of their heads.

"Seasons! Gather up! We've been training now, for exactly a year. I thought that it may be time to get a bounty for some of our crew mates, as well as raise some of our already existing bounties. Who's joining?"

"ME!!" A now eleven year old Uki jumped up.

"Calm down rain. You'll make it thunder again." seventeen year old Aki sighed. "I'm in, by the way."

"Yesss!!! I get to have a new bounty!!!" fifteen year old Haruki exclaimed.

"If you're strong enough." twenty-three year old Fuyuki teased.

"So, everyone's coming?" nineteen year old Natsuki confirmed.

"Obviously. Who's guarding the ship though?"

"I'll take it with us."

"Alright. Where are we going?"

"We, my mates, are going to... I dunno. Where do you want to go?"

"Is there an island with lots of people? With lots of attractions and shops?"

"There's a place called Sabaody Archipelago. The final island in paradise. It's called that because it has bubbles float up from the ground."

"I want to go there!" Uki immediately jumped onto the fact that bubbles floated from the island, wanting to see it with her own eyes.

"Everyone else?"

"Seems fun. Why not?"

"Yeah!"

"Then it's decided. Everyone buckle up. You're going to be travelling at light speed to Sabaody Archipelago!" She exclaimed, and in less than a blink of an eye, four people appeared in a shadow of a massive tree, with the giant number, '1' on the stripy, blue and green bark. In another moment, their ship appeared by the docks, with Natsuki appearing next to them. None of them jumped, as they sensed her arrival, rather than see.

They walked around the place, admiring the atmosphere and Uki in particular, studying the island itself, which seemed to have some sort of soapy ground, which made the bubbles float into the air. Though there was something that had to happen, to ruin their perfect day. . .

Celestial Dragons.

"HAHAHAHAHA Look at him! He looks so stupid when I stab him like this! His face turns all funny because of it!" A girl shrieked on top of a man, who had multiple weapons lodged into his back, crawling on all fours like a horse.

Natsuki slipped her mask on, but her crew had already seen the tear run down her cheek, along with the anger sparking in her eyes. They knew the story of her lost brother, and just because they hadn't experienced it firsthand, didn't mean that they didn't understand. They all had no family. Except Natsuki, who had her father, but had lost everything once, and nearly again, in this second chance.

Natsuki loaded her revolvers, Fuyuki got out his stick and floated up into the air, Haruki disappeared, Aki started her stretches, warming up her body, Uki hid in a shadow, but that didn't mean she wasn't contributing. She made it rain on every single island except theirs, to gather people to the island they were on, as instructed by Natsuki.

First, Fuyuki floated down, in front of the Celestial dragon. He gently pushed the girl off the man, and helped him up, taking him to Uki, who began working on first aid. Fuyuki, with now sixty guns pointed at his head, quickly floated up, as Haruki shot half of them, disappearing in and out between the bodyguards. Then, Natsuki shot some of them, before appearing right in front of the Celestial dragon.

She used the butt of her revolver to crack open the glass bowl they had their heads in, and pointed her gun at the girl's head.

The celestial dragon couldn't even let out a scream. She just looked at the gun point nervously, sweating buckets. By now, the people from different islands had gathered to the first island, watching the scene with horror.

"Oh no. They're challenging a celestial dragon!"

"We need to run! Right! Now!!"

Natsuki glared at the snail who took a photo of each of her crew. Which then sent it to the main marine office.

"ALERT! ALERT! PIRATE ATTACKING A CELESTIAL DRAGON! ALERT!!" The alarm blared off, and Sengoku looked at the images a photo-snail took.

"Identify the pirate."

"It seems to be the Seasonal Pirates sir. Their captain is the Striking Vixen, first mate is Jack Frost, and one other crew mate is the Ryokuryuu, sir!"

"Then why are there two more?"

"We cannot identify them, sir!"

"Are they a threat?"

"They seem to have taken out all of the Celestial Dragon's bodyguards, sir!"

"Get Kizaru, Aokiji and Akainu on the way."

"Sir, they're th-"

"Did I stutter?"

"N-no sir... I'll go inform them right away."

Back with Natsuki and her crew, Natsuki still had her gun by the Celestial's head, but was getting tired of the constant crying, bargaining and taunting the girl was doing. She noticed that Uki had been able to heal the man using her rain of medicine, and Fuyuki was still up in the clouds, observing the situation, whilst Haruki was playing around, making his bottom half disappear and then his fingers, yelling incoherent words such as,

'Mr Stark, I don't feel so good.' Which made no utter sense.

When Natsuki started talking with Uki about how boring this was, there was a sudden beam of light.

"Hm? How tiring... Why do I need to fight with you... This will end so quickly..." Borsalino, the man who could fight at the speed of light said as slowly as a turtle. He then disappeared, appearing in front of where Natsuki was, just a millisecond ago. Confused, he searched for her haki, which then suddenly reappeared behind him. He got hit by a katana, which had its sheath on, but did damage due to it being covered in haki.

Face contorting to seriousness, he flashed around, his light sword, Ama no Murakumo appearing in his hands. He then swung at Natsuki, who again disappeared, then reappeared behind him like before. This time, she did not give mercy, and swung Kusanagi down without using force, which let the katana take a natural course at the man, slashing his back horrifically. The katana left a deep gash into the back of the man, despite the fact that it was still sheathed, soaking the words of 'justice' with his blood. Borsalino didn't give up, and tried attacking once more, only to realise how much stronger she was than him.

She was somehow quicker, stronger, and smarter than him, always using the correct method for defeating his plans. His hopes were raised when he felt the haki of Aokiji.

"Oi oi oi. Kizaru! What hap-" He was cut off, as he was also attacked by a girl, who had her long brown hair in a ponytail. She kicked his shin, and when he tried to attack, she hit a specific spot of his shoulder, and it fell limp to his side. He couldn't put strength in his muscles, and he felt absolutely and utterly powerless. Aki continued to attack, hitting various points in his body, gradually making him immobile.

Akainu appeared, and what happened next was a surprise to the proud man. A stick? Hit his torso, and before he could say, or react to anything, suddenly, his body wouldn't move. He looked down and saw the frost bite spreading from the point the stick touched. He used his magma to warm his body, but for some reason, his body didn't thaw. He then saw the haki coating the stick.

Within minutes, the three admirals were on the ground; Kizaru with slashes and stabs around his body, Aokiji completely unable to move, and Akainu with all but his head, frozen. Summer, Autumn and Winter each had their finger on their opponent, channelling haki through their finger to them, making it impossible for them to use their powers.

"Fuyuki, Aki, hold my shoulder." Natsuki appeared at Marine ford, right in front of Sengoku, left the three admirals and disappeared with her crew.

Then, Natsuki transported all of her crew, except Fuyuki to their ship, and then transported the ship back to the calm belt.

"Fuyu, we'll be looking for our sixth crew mate."

"Okay captain. I promised didn't I? I'll follow wherever you go."

"Thank you Fuyuki."


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He tells her that the earth is flat-  
> He knows the facts, and that is that.  
> In altercations fierce and long  
> She tries her best to prove him wrong.  
> But he has learned to argue well.  
> He calls her arguments unsound  
> And often asks her not to yell.  
> She cannot win. He stands his ground.
> 
> The planet goes on being round.
> 
> -Wendy Cope

Fuyuki and Natsuki travelled various islands, stopping at each one in wonder if there was a person powerful enough, or had potential to join them. There was a girl who caught Natsuki's eye, with bright orange hair and a sack of gold, eating a tangerine happily, but she knew the girl wasn't meant to be for her crew. There was a son of a famous royal family at a floating restaurant, his swirly eyebrows and heart shaped eyes rather memorable, but he also didn't seem right. Though on an island, right in the centre of the South Blue, there was a presence who caught their attention.

He was slightly shorter than Fuyuki, with tousled mousy brown hair, with streaks of black amidst it. He wore a black eye patch on his left eye, and a raggedy brown cloak over his worn-out shirt and ripped trousers. His face was gaunt, cheeks hollow, shadows under his eyes. He touched the grass, which dried up and wilted, and he looked at it sadly.

"Who's there!" His gruff voice called out, and both summer and winter smiled. He could sense them.

"Hi. My name's Natsuki."

"I'm Fuyuki."

"Who are you?"

"We're pirates."

"What are pirates doing in the middle of the woods?"

"Looking for a potential crew mate, and I believe we just found one." He looked around, then pointed at himself.

"You want me? No no no. You don't want me!"

"Why?"

"I'm the bringer of bad luck! I had that peculiar fruit a month ago, and since then, all I touch dries up!" He looked at his hands which had skin peeling off.

"What you ate was the Kasa kasa no mi. The dry dry fruit, well that's what I think you ate anyway. Whatever you touch become dehydrated yes?"

"Dry dry fruit?" What's that? I mean, yeah. Whatever I touch gets dry, but..."

"Have you never heard of devil fruits?"

"Devil?"

"Ah. They're fruits which grant people peculiar powers. Like his." Fuyuki made a small ball of snow, and the man looked at it curiously. He touched the snowball which shrivelled and hardened, and in Fuyuki's hand was a small ball of ice.

"How did you do that?"

"I dunno! You're the one who knows about the fruit!" He backed up to a tree, which shrivelled up and hollowed. The leaves fell off and decoloured, creating a small area just as if it were the season of fall. He ran off, down the hill and Natsuki followed together with Fuyuki. "Don't follow me!"

"We don't even know what your name is."

"You don't get to know!" He ran to a house which was on the verge of collapsing, and slammed the dried-up door, breaking it in the process. He didn't care, and went further inside, and the pirates warily entered the cottage which was living its last moments. They saw Kanki put on gloves as he entered a room.

"Kanki... Are you back?" Came a raspy voice from further inside.

"I'm back dad. How do you feel?" Natsuki entered a small room with a makeshift bed, with a man who was thin and wrinkly laying between its thin mattresses.

"Better than yesterday. How-" The man started coughing and wheezing, unable to speak for another second or two. He calmed down after holding his throat for a bit and sank back under the sheets. "You shouldn't be here. What if you catch the disease as well?"

"You know I don't get sick easily. I'll be fine."

"I can't lose you too. Not like your mother."

"I know dad." The man, now identified as Kanki, walked out of his father's room to find one girl bawling her eyes, dabbing them with a handkerchief, and a man who was rubbing her back with an awkward look on his face.

"Who are you?"

"You already forgot? We're the ones who invited you to join us. To become a pirate." Fuyuki explained as Natsuki blew her nose.

"As I said before, the answer is no. I need to tend to my father."

"What's his illness?"

"The branching disease. It's where you gradually get thinner and thinner, until you snap, and die. It's spread by what you touch, and your saliva. My father got it from using a spoon which my mother used, who died a few weeks ago." He explained.

"I am sorry for your loss, and I'm sorry that we couldn't arrive sooner, because I can heal that illness." Natsuki replied.

A few moments passed with absolute silence.

Which continued for another few minutes...

Followed by screaming.

"WHATTT????" Kanki shook her violently, and Natsuki felt her eyes roll back and forth, rattling in her skull.

"Calm down Kanki. Listen to what she has to say."

"As I was saying, I can heal your father."

"Really? You could really do that?"

"Yes, I can. So get out of my way." Natsuki walked into Kanki's father's room and placed her hand on his forehead.

"How can I tell that you're not killing him?" Kanki said, stopping her from doing anything further.

"By trusting me." She placed her hand on his forehead again, and her palms glowed green, until it enveloped his whole body. The man's body regained its healthy glow, the unnatural wrinkles disappearing, his body becoming slightly fuller than the sickly thinness he had before. He sighed in content and fell into a deep sleep.

"I don't know what to say..."

"A thank you would suffice."

"...thank you."

"You're welcome. Can you reconsider our offer?"

"I- I'll spend more time on it... I'll talk with my dad."

"Of course. I'll see you tomorrow Kanki."

"Please, we can't offer much, but I'm sure we have a few more mattresses."

"It's alright. We prefer camping anyway."

"Okay..." Natsuki and Fuyuki climbed up a massive willow tree, wrapping their bodies up with blankets as they settled in.

Exchanging a few words of good night, they fell asleep on each other, with stars shining above.

They woke up to a sudden shake of the ground. Natsuki was immediately alert, looking for the source, only to notice that the tree they slept on was slowly dying. She looked down at a man who was utterly terrified.

"I forgot my gloves..." Natsuki sighed and shook Fuyuki awake, who tumbled to the ground, instantaneously filling the floor with snow on instinct.

"What was that for?"

"For not being alert." Fuyuki stuck his tongue out at her, and she placed her hand on her chest, as if she were offended.

"Um..."

"Oh, yes. Sorry. What was it?"

"My dad said he wanted to talk to you." So Summer, Winter and the Dry season walked into the dying house.

"Ah, you must be my saviour. Thank you so much. My name is Sahara. You got me out of leaving my son all alone, but that's what we're here to talk about."

"It wasn't a problem sir. About your son, sir. I thought it would be good to explain what we are, and what we do as a pirate first."

"I was just about to ask. Please, do go on."

"My name is Akagami D. Natsuki. This is Kurama Fuyuki. I am the captain, and he is my first mate of a pirate crew called the Seasons. As I think you can guess, I'm Summer, he's Winter, and your son, is our sixth member. Your son, his name means the Dry season. We think of it as a joke, but still rather interesting, how all of us have names according to our seasons, and powers based on it. Fuyuki, he ate the snow fruit. My friend, Haruki, he ate the camouflage fruit, which allows him to disappear from plain sight, which I'm sure you've seen animals do in the nature. My other crew mate, Uki, she ate the rain fruit, which correlates with her season, the season of rain. My last crew mate, her name is Aki, and though she doesn't have a devil fruit, I have a feeling she'll be getting one soon."

"Isn't it selfish? Or unfair? To other pirates I mean. To have crew mates that are so powerful? Also, why do you yourself not have a devil fruit?"

"Well, firstly, I chose them for their personality and past. Uki, though only ten, soon eleven, she has seen the world without the protection given by her parents. She chose to come with me, so that she could get stronger. She hadn't even noticed that the rain responded to her emotions. Haruki, second youngest, being sixteen, he has experienced something that no child should ever see. His goal was revenge on the pirates who made him suffer, but I believe his ideas have changed now. He became stronger to defeat them and has never stopped since. Aki, eighteen-year-old, had to look after a group of orphans, including Uki, all on her own, making her mature much earlier than most. She became powerful in order to protect her siblings, only leaving because they wished for her to follow her ambition. Fuyuki here..." Natsuki looked at Fuyuki, wondering if it were alright for her to speak of his past. She only spoke briefly of her other crew mates' pasts, but he was actually here.

"I was called a demon because of my powers, believed that every death caused by a snowstorm, or an avalanche was by me. I have learnt to control it, but the villagers still torment me in my dreams."

"As I think you can understand, we didn't invite them for their powers. They all became strong by their own will, and they wish to be stronger because they have a dream. Their devil fruits were just a bonus. That is what I also think for your son. He has strong will and determination. He thinks logically rather than rationally. For instance, yesterday, before I healed you, he stopped me, wondering what I was doing first. Most would either not stop me in the first place or start to use force to stop me from what I was doing. If I were to kill you, and he didn't stop me, you would be dead, if I were to heal you, and he used brawn, both of you would be dead." She deadpanned.

"So you're inviting him for his person, rather than power?"

"If he were a toddler with will and correct ideology, I would take him in as well. His power is not the issue here. My friends and I are in a three-year interval from the world to get strong. Though there's only two years left, I wouldn't doubt the strength your son already has."

"But his powers... He could kill one of you by accident..." Kanki looked down. It stung, but that's what the truth was like most of the time.

"I don't think so. Fuyuki?" Fuyuki didn't have doubt in his eyes... Well maybe a twinge of it... He could regret this forever, if he even had a future... Fuyuki swiftly took of Kanki's glove and touched Kanki's hand.

Immediately, Fuyuki shrivelled up, quite alike to the branching disease Kanki's father was infected with.

"NO!!" In that moment, Natsuki disappeared, reappearing with a small girl who was almost exactly half the size of Kanki.

"Uki? Can you use your rain?"

"Oh my goodness! What happened!?" Uki exclaimed, immediately rushing to him. She made a small rain cloud above him, and it began to rain softly of healing elixir. The rain made his body fuller, just like Natsuki's medical jutsu had done to Sahara.

Fuyuki woke up with a strangled gasp.

"Never- never make me do that again..." He got out.

"Gotcha."

"As demonstrated, even if Kanki touches any one of us, we can heal them. So no worries."

"Then I guess it's done." Sahara concluded.

"I guess so. Kanki, welcome to the cre-"

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DID THIS!?" Uki exclaimed, and Natsuki sighed. This was going to be long...


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> She hates you,  
> You hate her,  
> Days go by,  
> All in a blur.
> 
> She knows you,  
> You know her,  
> She likes all things   
> With tufts of fur.
> 
> She tells you,  
> You tell her,  
> Things gone wrong,  
> Things in a stir .
> 
> She calls you,  
> You call her,  
> She loves you,  
> And you love her.
> 
> -noelicoan

It took a while to calm down the raging girl. Kanki and Uki were like water and oil. The moment they saw each other, all they expressed was hate.

"Who's this little brat!" Kanki yelled at the small blue haired girl.

"This 'little brat' just saved a man you nearly killed! A thank you would be appreciated! Natsu-nee!? What are you doing with this kind of man!?"

"Excuse you! It wasn't my fault that this snow dude takes my glove off to touch me! Why should I thank a person who insulted me without finding out what happened first?"

"Because I saved his life you daft idiot! Be more alert for goodness sake! It's a bloody glove! Wouldn't you notice if he took it off!?"

"Uki-"

"-Besides! Why would Fuyuki-nii touch your hand on purpose!?"

"Uki!" Natsuki stopped her before things got any worse. "Uki. This is Kanki. Our new crew mate. Kanki, this is Uki. The one I was talking about, who can control rain."

"WHAT!?" They both yelled at the same time.

"You heard me. Also, it's good to see you two are already such good friends." Natsuki smirked, watching the two of them shake their heads in denial so quickly, it could tear off any second.

Natsuki quickly scanned over Fuyuki to check if he was alright, and relaxed when his vitals were fine. "Sahara-san. Thank you for letting us take your son."

"Please take good care of him. He's the only part of my family I have left."

"Of course." Natsuki smiled kindly at the old man, and Fuyuki nodded as well. Kanki went to hug his father, and Uki lost her snark.

"Take care of your body. Say hi to mum for me." Kanki didn't say goodbye, and it wasn't necessary.

"I'll be looking forward to see your bounty Kanki! Good luck!" Natsuki gestured for Uki and Fuyuki to hold her shoulder, and she herself held Kanki's shoulder. With a flicker of lightning, they all disappeared, reappearing on board their very own Kaizoku-gunkan.

Kanki managed to only throw up in his mouth, impressing even Uki.

Autumn and Spring who were anxiously waiting for Natsuki; jumped up, as four presences entered their sensory zone.

"How'd it go?" Haruki asked impatiently. "Did you find a new member?"

"It went fine. Let me introduce to you, our sixth and final season, the season of dryness: Kanki." Kanki awkwardly bowed, rubbing his neck.

"My name is Kanki. Apparently I ate the kasa kasa no mi. The dry dry fruit. So please don't force my gloves off, if you don't want to turn into a thin stick." He warned, looking down. Fuyuki slapped his back.

"Sorry about that mate. Natsuki wanted you to understand that we're capable of healing anyone who's affected by your powers."

"Well, I don't doubt your capabilities, but I'd rather not have this little midget shout in my ear every time she has to use her powers to heal ones who are affected by mine." He pointed at the small girl of rain, who was over two heads shorter than him.

"Hey!"

"See what I mean?"

"Well, my name is Aki. I'm the season of autumn. I don't have a fruit, but I specialise in martial arts."

"I'm Haruki. I'm the season of spring! I ate the camouflage fruit, so unless you can use haki, well even if you can use haki, you can't see me!"

"Everyone here knows haki?"

"Yeah. You too?"

"I learnt it from my aunt, who was a marine officer. She died a year back."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"Nah it's fine, I know she'd have punched me in the gut if I mourned for her."

"She sounds nice." Aki smiled, and Kanki smiled back.

"Alright, but where are we?"

"We're on the calm belt."

"What? Why aren't we eaten by sea kings yet?"

"Because this is a marine ship."

"Oh. That's smart."

* * *

So for the next two years, Haru, Uki, Natsu, Kan, Aki and Fuyu trained nonstop.

They would sometimes visit islands separately, causing havoc on each one, though it was only to save the poor souls on each island. Natsuki's younger brother, Ace was doing the same as the second division leader for one of the four emperors'. He became known as the 'Fire fist Ace', after gaining the flame flame fruit, boarding White Beard's ship.

Talking of fruits, Aki also received a fruit, which was completely on accident.

"What's that?"

"What's what?"

"The thing floating about a kilometre from here." Haruki said from the crows nest, training with his sensory.

"I don't know. Fuyu, Kan, can you go get it please." Natsuki was currently dealing with Aki, who was fighting her without hesitation. Once in a while, Aki would win, and Natsuki was so proud!

Fuyuki and Kanki discovered that combining their powers made ice, so Fuyuki made it snow on the sea, and Kanki jumped down, hands first, freezing the sea. They walked over to the object Kanki saw earlier, to find it was a chest, covered in sea stone.

"Natsuki or Aki, only you guys can open this!" They called, and Natsuki appeared with a flash. She tottered over, and using Kusanagi, split the box open perfectly in half. The content was what surprised them.

"Aki!! Come here!" Aki also arrived, and Uki and Haruki came over out of interest.

"What is it?"

"I believe a devil fruit has been delivered by a god..." Natsuki knew all this nonsensical whatnot about the seasons and the devil fruits was happening because of Kami, the goddess of her previous world. She couldn't be sure, but how else could you describe such utter nonsense?

"A devil fruit? Do you know which one?"

"Let me check with my dictionary of devil fruits..." Natsuki, who had revealed nearly every single secret she owned, did exactly as she said she would. "Apparently it's the nobi nobi no mi. The growth growth fruit... A fruit which allows the user to grow any plant from a seed or make a monster plant by making something grow even more." The fruit was shaped like a raspberry, with swirls on each bump. It was a hot pink colour, which didn't seem very appealing, but Aki gulped, and took a bite out of the fruit.

Immediately, she tried to spit it out, making the rest of the devil-fruit users laugh, as they had experienced the exact same thing before.

Nothing changed to her body, though when Natsuki brought out a potted flower from her room, it started growing and growing when Aki touched it. The flower became massive, and they had to drop it into the sea because of how quickly it was growing.

In a minute, there was a flower which stood almost twenty metres tall, from the ocean surface.

"Okay, you need to learn how to control your powers and how to reverse it. We've got a year and a half of training to get through, and I have no doubt that you'll do fine!" Natsuki encouraged and Aki looked at her hands with slight worry, which was soon overpowered by excitement.

"Leave it to me!!"

So now, with her new powers, and the crew causing havoc, they each had a bounty which was too high for someone who supposedly resided in the East Blue. Especially Aki, Fuyuki and Natsuki, who were the main people who defeated the three admirals.

The Striking Vixen, captain of the Seasonal Pirates: Akagami D. Natsuki

Jack Frost, vice-captain of the Seasonal Pirates: Kurama Fuyuki

Forest Fighter of the Seasonal Pirates: Aki

Ryokuryuu of the Seasonal Pirates: Haruki

Drying Desert of the Seasonal Pirates: Kanki

Raining Miracle of the Seasonal Pirates: Uki

They looked at their posters in awe. Uki complained slightly when Kanki just _had_ to mention the difference of price on their heads, but that only made her want to train more to overpower him.

It was obvious to the rest that their rivalry was in relation to their powers, considering how she had powers of rain, and Kanki had powers to dry her rain up. Though whenever the either of them felt insecure about the power they possessed, they were always there for each other, and were secretly the best of friends. Just like the time Natsuki just happened to overhear. She was walking on deck when she noticed Kanki climbing up the mast.

"My turn in the crows nest." Kanki said as he got to the top where Uki was.

"Took you long enough! I was freezing!"

"Yeah, yeah." Kanki sat down and looked up at the starry sky. "I'm glad I joined you guys. Everyday is so fun." He just whispered to himself.

"Me too. I mean, I'm glad I joined, not like I'm glad you joined!" She covered up.

"Uki, do you know what a tsundere is?"

"No?"

"Well, that's what you are." Natsuki almost gave away her position from laughing.

"What's a tsundere?"

"Ask someone else. You're going back down in a second aren't you?"

"Yeah, but I'll stay up here for a few more minutes."

"Is this about yesterday?"

"Yeah..."

"It wasn't your fault. I mean, it wasn't your fault that it began to rain in your room after a bad dream."

"It was though... If I were stronger, our precious memories on the walls wouldn't have got wet. If I had control over my fruit more, we wouldn't have had to run away from the room when it began to rain acid..."

"You can't reverse time. All you can do is to go forward, rather than look back on it and regret." Natsuki nodded, faint smile on her lips as she walked away. That night, Uki stayed up with Kanki, looking up at the stars as she fell asleep.

So, although they often had heated arguments, they were actually some of the closest in their small family. With Fuyuki and Natsuki with the roles of father and mother, Aki the eldest sister, along with Kanki the eldest brother, then came Haruki and Uki.

When Natsuki's youngest brother left Dawn island on his seventeenth birthday, Natsuki was already 22, Fuyuki 25, Aki 20, Kanki 21, Haruki 18, and Uki 14. They decided to finally show themselves officially to the world, as the Seasonal Pirates. 


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Family ties are precious threads,  
> No matter where we roam.  
> They draw us close to those we love,   
> And pull our hearts toward home.
> 
> -anonymous

It was in the middle of summer, when the seasons found themselves in Alabasta, the desert kingdom. They had heard of the rebellion brewing against the royal family and wanted to solve the problem discreetly.

Climbing down from their ship, which they had been jumping from island to island with, after quickly folding the sails, they dropped the anchor into the sea, and breathed in the dry salty air.

Looking around the entrance to Nanohana: Alabasta's port town, Natsuki shielded her eyes against the glaring sun. The place reminding her of the wind kingdom in the elemental nations, and of Gaara. She smiled at the memory of a boy who vaguely understood what 'he' as Naruto went through at the time.

"Natsu? What are we going to do first?"

"Can't we have fun once in a while? I want to eat!"

"Me too!"

"Me three!" They hit Haruki on the head, because of a certain argument they had a few days before, something along the lines of Aki yelling, _"TOO DOESN'T MEAN TWO! STOP YELLING_ _ **ME THREE**_ _!"_ but that's a story for another day.

"We don't need to start another argument. Where do you want to go?"

"Can we eat, please? You know who would have to cook if we don't eat out." Uki groaned, pointing at Kanki.

"Excuse you! I make delicious toast!"

"Anyone can make toast. It's TOAST! You toast the bread, and it's done!" She argued back.

"Says the person who over boiled the egg."

"ONE TIME!"

"We get it! Calm down! Geez!"

"Shall we just go to town and look for a restaurant?"

"Why not?" So the six of them just walked around, sometimes popping into stores, buying things they wanted, giving extra tips to shops going poor, in necessary cases.

They arrived at a restaurant named the 'Spice Bean' and sat by the bar. Natsuki smiled when she saw her spaghetti meatballs arrive, blanching when Fuyuki's fried octopus arrived with a bowl of rice. Uki got a club sandwich, and Kanki got a steak. Aki ordered salad along with a kebab, and Haruki got his banana split, later on ordering a sandwich after getting a disapproving glare from Aki who worried about his health. They were all eating peacefully, when Natsuki turned around abruptly.

She looked at the entrance, where a man half naked, wearing an orange hat, and a red beaded necklace appeared. There was a massive tattoo of a jolly roger on his back, and another smaller tattoo on his left arm. With the letters, A ~~S~~ CE on it. He sat down next to Natsuki and ordered as much food on the menu as possible, then began to eat.

All the while, Natsuki just stared at him, catching the attention of Fuyuki, then gradually the rest of her crew.

He suddenly fell face first into his food.

She continued to stare.

_"Is he alright?"_

_"Someone's died!"_

_"He just, dropped dead..."_

_"You think it's a Desert Strawberry?"_

_"Yeah, it's got to be..."_

_"When you get bit by one of those, several hours after the death, the poison spreads throughout the victim's body, so no one wants to get near him."_

"Huh!?" he jumped up from 'death'.

**"He's alive!?"**

"Well..." The man wiped his face in the closest piece of cloth he saw. Rubbing his face clean with a soft green fabric, which vaguely smelt familiar. Soon after, he announced to the world, "I fell asleep."

Natsuki got an irk mark when her favourite kimono was dirtied with gravy. She stood up, vaguely catching the attention of the man.

"What's with you lady? You dress weirdly, and you wear a mask?" He looked at her properly. Her flaming red hair, and blue eyes behind the holes of her mask. Her battle kimono and katana by her waist.

He began to sweat under her glare, when he was saved by a marine grabbing his shoulder.

"What's White Beard's second division commander doing here... Portgas D. Ace?" Whispers broke out within the crowd.

"Hey, I was about to talk to him." Natsuki interrupted the man who had two cigarettes in his mouth, a mean look in his eyes. A marine jacket on his shoulders.

"You... I know you, you're- you're!" He was about to tell the audience her identity, when another person entered the scene, further surprising Natsuki. He rammed into the restaurant, clashing with the officer and Ace, sending them flying through the walls. Natsuki sidestepped the attack and looked at the intruder disapprovingly.

He flicked the rubble off his shoulders and sat down, next to Natsuki. He ate the left overs of Natsuki's meal, and ate Ace's remains as well.

Natsuki's irk marks increased.

She coughed deliberately, but the boy with a straw hat didn't look up.

She tapped his shoulder, but he still continued to eat.

This time, she grabbed his hat, and he immediately went on the defensive.

"Hey! This is my treasure don't... touch... it..." He looked at her for a few seconds, the audience at the restaurant listening in on them. "GEH!!!!" He jumped up, and tried to run away, but Natsuki didn't let him.

"Luffy~? Where do you think you're going?" She slid her mask to the back of her head, revealing her tightly closed eyes and 'sincere' smile. Sweat slipped and dropped down Luffy's back until his shirt was soggy and wet.

"Nowhere?"

"Of course you wouldn't be... After taking your sister's food, you think you'd just get away?" Her crew immediately connected the dots, already promising to go to his funeral.

"No?" The rubble moved, and Ace walked out from the dust fumes. His eyes brightened at the sight of Luffy, but seeing his sister, he looked as terrified as Luffy.

"I have to talk to you two." She finally said, but was interrupted by the raging yell of the smoking marine.

"What a lucky day! I get three bounty heads!"

"Will you shut up!? It's a family reunion for gods sake!" Natsuki shot several of her kunai in the man's direction, and he was stuck to the wall, outlined by the sharp knives. Apparently not learning his lesson, he yelled for another person's name.

"Tashigi!!"

"Yes, Captain Smoker!?"

"Get them!?"

"Who?"

"Check it with the katana you idiot!" The girl with a black bob, wearing thick rimmed glasses took a single glance at Natsuki's katana to exclaim, "THE STRIKING VIXEN!" Natsuki sighed, whilst the crowd grew crazy.

"Yes it is me, now will you excuse us? We need to get going, along with clean my kimono, because _someone,_ thought it was a good idea to wipe his face on a random person's dress, which turned out to be his dear sister's. Good day."

"You're not going anywhere!"

"I'm afraid we are. Sorry to burst your bubble, but as a human being, we must continue to move forward." She replied ~~sincerely~~. "Seasons!" Natsuki grabbed her brothers' and her crew grabbed her.

Tashigi and Smoker jumped onto the spot where they were just a moment ago, and the only proof that they were there, was the sack of cash to pay for the damages and food, as well as the falling rubble and empty plates.

The eight of them reappeared at a random alley.

"Nee-chan! / Natsuki!!" The two brothers hugged their sister dearly, but after a moment of happiness, they each got a punch on the head from her.

"You haven't remembered the manners I taught you at all! Wiping your face on a stranger's skirt? Break a person's restaurant? Eat someone else's food? Oh my goodness..." She rubbed her temples and Haruki sniggered.

"Look at how much of a mamma bear she is." He whispered to Kanki, who smirked, but erased it at once.

"Well I'm extremely sorry for worrying about my two younger brothers." She puffed her cheeks up and they all started to smile.

"So, not that she hasn't told us already, but why not an introduction?" Aki suggested.

"Yeah, sounds good."

"Well, my name's Portgas D. Ace. I'm the oldest younger brother of Natsuki. I'm the commander of the second division in the white beard pirates. I can control fire after I ate the flame flame fruit."

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy! I'm the youngest brother of Natsu-nee! I'm a rubber man who ate the gum gum fruit, and I'm the captain of the Straw-hat pirates! I'm going to be the pirate king! Also, I'm hungry." He finished in sync with his stomach growling. Natsuki looked at Aki, and she began her introduction.

"I'm Aki, and I'm Natsuki's forth recruit. I can make things grow rapidly, like this!" She dropped a seed, which she keeps in a pouch by her waist, onto the ground, and it began to grow and grow into a massive sunflower. She then turned to Kanki.

"I'm Kanki, and I am Natsuki's final recruit. I can make things dry up when I touch them, so please don't touch my hands as a joke, unless you want this little midget shout at me and you." He touched the sunflower, and it's seeds fell off as the flower dried up. He gave the seeds to Luffy, who ate it happily.

"Who're you calling midget!? Anyway, I'm Uki. I'm Natsu-nee's fifth recruit, and I can make it rain! I am one of the two devil fruit users in the world who can swim." Uki said smugly.

"Woah! That's so cool! Join my cr-"

"I dare you to finish that sentence."

"Sorry ma'am." Luffy apologised to his sister.

"I'm Haruki! I'm Natsuki's third recruit, and I can camouflage, so I'm invisible when I want to be!"

"Sanji would want that..." Luffy mumbled.

"I'm Kurama Fuyuki, and I am Natsuki's second in command. I can make it snow."

"You guys are all so cool!"

"We can certainly use guys like you on our shi- Sorry ma'am." Ace apologised as well.

"Well, it's good to see you two are well, but why are you both on your own?"

"I'm on a mission." Natsuki flashed a look at Ace, who promised to tell her later, with a look as well.

"I got lost..." Natsuki sighed. He hadn't changed at all. She messed with Luffy's and Ace's hair and sighed.

"Shall we go look for them then? Also, guys, would I sound selfish if I-"

"No you wouldn't Natsu."

"I didn't even finish my sentence!"

"You can spend time with them Natsu. We'll be getting information about the place."

"Really?"

"Of course! Kanki can make friends with the island! They're both as dry as hell after all."

"Not as dry as your sense of humour." Kanki shot back at Uki.

"Oh shu-"

"We get it, we get it. No more PDA!" Haruki joked.

"We are not displaying **any** public affection!" They yelled at the same time, and the rest of the crew gradually walked away from Natsuki and her brothers, and the three siblings could still hear their bickering, until it faded away.

"How are you Luffy? Did you get amazing crew mates?"

"Yeah! There's this guy called Zoro, who wants to be the strongest swordsman in the world! He's only lost in a fight once you know? Only to Eye-Hawk or someone like that!"

"Mihawk?" Ace helped out.

"Yeah! Him!"

"Uncle Mihawk?" Natsuki wondered.

"Hm? Oh he's your mum's brother wasn't he?"

"Yeah, so Zoro's only lost to him?"

"Yep! He's so cool! Then there's Nami, who's my navigator! She loves money and tangerines, and she's really scary..."

"Sounds good." Ace laughed, punching Luffy's arm, who punched Ace in return.

"Hey! Anyway, then there's Usopp, who can hit anything with his slingshot! He's also a good liar!"

"Usopp? As in Yasopp's son?" Natsuki remembered the boy her father's crew mate wouldn't stop talking about.

"Yeah! Then there's Sanji, who makes the best dishes! He's the best chef in the entire world!" Something in Natsuki's head clicked, but she couldn't identify it yet.

"May I request a lunch made by him for my crew? Because of you two, I haven't eaten much." Luffy shrugged.

"Dunno, he doesn't really listen me, he will to you though. He really likes women." She really hoped this, 'Sanji' wasn't a bad influence.

"The rest?"

"Then there's Chopper, who's a reindeer! He can transform into many different shapes when he eats this, thing... I don't know what it's called."

"Anyone else?"

"Nope, but we've got Vivi, who's a temporary crew mate. She's actually a princess!"

"Luffy? Things like that should be kept secret." Ace sighed, knowing it was hopeless to try and teach Luffy how to lie.

"Why?"

"Because things which are important, like that little fact you just mentioned, can be used against you. What if a thousand people attacked you, trying to kidnap her?"

"Then I'll kick their asses!"

"Watch your language Luffy, but that's what I thought you'd say." Natsuki smiled.

The three siblings who were gradually walking closer to the ocean, noticed a single ship in the sea.

"That's my ship!" Luffy exclaimed, and stretched his arms, snapping to the Going Merry, landing on top of Sanji and Zoro. "Guys!"

"Luffy!? Where were you!? We were looking for you for ages!"

"Sorry guys, I was just so thirsty!" He apologised, after getting hit on the head by Nami and Sanji.

"Where have you been?"

"Hm? With my older brother, and my older sister."

"Oh right..."

"Wait..."

"WHATTTTT???????????" 


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Hello. Goodbye"  
> "No, come back here."  
> "Why? what's there to talk at this stage?"  
> "Just tell us something, like your age."  
> "Must I? To people who just don't care?"  
> "Or else you'll get detention, so don't you dare."  
> "I really can't be bothered. Let the lesson go on."  
> "All attention is on you. What'll happen if you're gone."  
> "I don't know. Go ask yourself."  
> "It was rhetorical!" The teacher yells.
> 
> So that's what went on.  
> A boy's first day.  
> An introduction gone wrong.  
> And attention's not paid.
> 
> -noelicoan

"So wait, you're telling me that you have an older brother called Ace, and a sister called Natsuki, who are also pirates?" Nami tried to get the fact through her head. Her captain whom she thought couldn't be any weirder, or hide any secrets, just went against those thoughts.

"Yep!"

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

"Forgot." The rest of the straw-hat crew sighed. What did they expect from their captain...

"Where are they?"

"Oh, I left them on land, oops." He scratched his head awkwardly but opened up again with a smile. "Meh! They're strong anyway!"

"They're strong?" Chopper asked.

"Yeah! Ace hadn't eaten the flame flame fruit yet, and Natsuki hasn't eaten a devil fruit at all, but I could never beat them in a fight! They're real strong. Ace and Natsuki!"

"There's a person with meat and blood that you could never beat!?" Nami wondered in awe.

"I guess a monster's older siblings are even greater monsters after all." Usopp said worriedly.

"Yeah! I lost all the time!" He laughed, but then added, "But if I tried now, I bet I'd win!"

"I assume that's a groundless claim..." Zoro mumbled.

"Who's going to win if they tried now!?" Two new voices chimed in at the same time, kicking Luffy down a few pegs.

"Oh, Natsu! Ace! This is the crew I was talking about!" Luffy waved at Nami, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, Chopper, Vivi and Karoo.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Akagami D. Natsuki."

"And I'm Portgas D. Ace. I hear you're looking after of our little brother, thank you."

"No, not at all." They all replied, bowing in return.

"He can be a little tough to handle, but please, take good care of him." Natsuki smiled.

"You probably have lots of catching up to do. Why don't you come in? I'll make you some tea." Sanji offered, and still hadn't gone all female crazy thanks to Natsuki wearing her mask.

"Oh no, it's fine. Don't worry about us." Ace smiled, making Sanji's cigarette light up again, further surprising the straw-hats.

"T-talk about unexpected..."

"That's for sure."

"I would've expected them to be as reckless as Luffy!"

"No, I don't believe it. How can these sensible people be Luffy's siblings?"

"The sea is just full of surprises..."

"Haha! Aren't they funny!?" Luffy smiled at his crew who were making fun of him but didn't take notice of it.

"Luffy, this has been lovely, but look in front." Natsuki pointed out. They all looked, and noticed a whole wall of ships, with the name 'BAROQUE' on its sails.

"Those are the Billions' ships!" Vivi mentioned with anxiety.

"Summer! Don't think you can get away with ruining our plans!"

"What did you do?" Ace asked, knowing that was an alias she used sometimes.

"Oh those bloody bastards. I knew it was too good of them to just let me and my brothers talk peacefully." Natsuki mumbled.

"What?"

"My crew, I asked for some time with my brothers, and they left, saying they'll gather info about the whole rebellion. I bet they attacked someone or something and blamed it on me." Natsuki sighed. "Sorry guys, this one's on me. Ace? You coming?"

"Why not? I need to move my body a bit." Ace jumped off the ship, landing on a small boat which was powered by a weird engine. He set his feet aflame, and the engines roared on fire, setting him free to the ocean.

Natsuki meanwhile leapt to the tip of the Merry, standing on Luffy's favourite spot, and for once, Luffy didn't complain.

She looked at the separate ships, counting ten, and let Ace take half. She smirked, unsheathing Kusanagi, making Zoro gasp.

She jumped high into the air, then landed on the water, running across it as easily as if it were solid ground, then stopped in front of the five ships. She slashed at the ships, and in less than a second, there were cut up pieces of wood and people, blood soaking the ocean red.

Ace used his famous technique, which gained him the name, 'Fire fist'. Setting his hand on fire, he punched a ship, which created a domino effect, his flames setting fire to a giant ship, which then set fire to another, then to another.

The two of them arrived back on Merry, one of them smoking slightly, and the other, drops of blood on her mask. Natsuki took off her mask, and rubbed it slightly, cleaning the blood off the porcelain fox. Though a second later, she saw a blond tornado, whizzing around her like a crazed puppy.

"Ah, forgot about you..." Natsuki sighed, tossing aside Sanji, with hearts in his eyes, ignoring the glares Zoro was sending to her as well. "Also, Luffy would you mind if my crew come on board?"

"Nope! Let's have a party!!!"

Natsuki disappeared, and a moment later reappeared with five people, each one with a massive bump on their head.

"It wasn't my idea!" Haruki exclaimed.

"Of course it wasn't." Natsuki replied with a tight smile.

"I'm telling the truth! It was Fuyuki!" He continued to protest, and the slight twitch to Winter's brow told a story. Immediately Natsuki stood in front of Fuyuki, looked him in the eyes for a good second before deciding.

"Kurama Fuyuki. You are accused by Haruki of your guilt. How do you plead?"

"innocent, obviously."

"By the word of your captain, Natsuki, I decide that you're guilty. Your punishment will be being in charge of night watch for a month together with tickle torture." She yelled, and jumped onto his torso, tickling a particular spot between his ribs.

He didn't last a second.

"S-sto-stop! N-nooo No! Do-don't! Tickl-tickling! Nooo!" Fuyuki yelled, unashamed. The straw hats just looked at the two of them, contemplating on the idea whether to stop her or not.

"Natsu, we're introducing ourselves to them remember?" Aki interrupted, and Fuyuki sighed in relief. Natsuki gave him one final jab at his neck and turned around with a bright smile.

"Well, on the more formal note. My name is Akagami D. Natsuki, and I'm the older sister of Luffy. I am also the captain of these guys. The one with the eye patch is Kanki, and please don't touch his hands on purpose... We can heal you, but it takes a lot of emotional toll on him, and it makes him think it's his own fault." Kanki nodded, looking down.

Natsuki rubbed his arm, and the small smile came back on.

"The one next to him is Uki, and she may look small and cute, but she can kill you in an instant, so don't test her okay? Then there's Aki, who looks like she can kill you, but is actually just a big bundle of fluff, then there's Haruki, who's super energetic, then there's Fuyuki, who's my right-hand man, and is sometimes a complete jerk." She introduced them one by one, each of them nodding or waving when their names were called.

"You flatter me Natsuki" Fuyuki praised, and Natsuki hit him on the head. Sanji looked at Fuyuki with jealousy, but recognised him from his bounty-photo and turned his attention back on Nami.

"I've never heard of you guys before. Haven't you been a pirate for longer than us?" Nami asked.

"Don't you recognise us? How unusual. I expected someone as smart as you to notice first." Aki commented. Later adding on, "It seems the blondie's got the idea."

"Sanji-kun?"

"Nami-san, they're the ones, you know the sea-"

"You're the Striking Vixen." Zoro cut in.

"Oh, the swordsman finds out first eh?" Natsuki smirked a feline-grin.

"St-strik-striking vixen? You mean the one with five billion berries on her head?" Usopp stuttered, and fell unconscious, spewing bubbles.

"fiVE? Are you serious!? Five billion berries!? I could buy my hometown five times with that money!" Nami yelled, but then turned to the rest of them, "Then that means you're... You're the seasonal pirates!"

"It is kinda obvious you know... Our names are literally the six different seasons." Haruki deadpanned, and was hit by Aki for running his mouth.

"You're Jack Frost!" Chopper exclaimed, and Nami looked at him, slightly surprised that Chopper, who seemed rather ignorant of the outside world, knew him.

Noticing the look Nami was sending him, Chopper blushed. "He was my hero... He's so cool! Able to control the snow like that!" Fuyuki smiled, and made a snow version of Chopper next to the real one, making the speaking reindeer squeal with delight.

"Then you're the Forest Fighter!?" Sanji looked at her sceptically. The Forest Fighter was an amazing pirate, and even his shitty uncle seemed to like her fighting style. He had never known that the forest fighter was a woman though.

"Then this is Ryokuryuu?" Usopp asked after retrieving his consciousness.

"Of course!" Haru turned invisible and flicked Usopp's nose, surprising him indeed.

"How'd you do that!?"

"A devil fruit, duh." Usopp looked rather embarrassed after that.

"So you're the Drying Desert?" Kanki just nodded, feeling out of place in the group of talkative people. "So that's why you didn't want to touch us." Vivi smiled, and Kanki let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding, glad that he was accepted.

"How old are you little girl?" Nami asked Uki, and the Seasons immediately hid behind Natsu and Aki, who were the only people on earth who could calm her down.

"I. Am. Fourteen. But. I. Can. Kill. You. Right. Now. If. I. Wished. So watch it." She hissed through gritted teeth. Nami, properly terrified of the small girl, inched back a bit, lightning hitting her head metaphorically when she recognised Uki as the Raining Miracle.

"Sorry..."

"Ma ma ma. People make mistakes. Besides, you should be proud of your strength at such a young age Uki." Aki consoled, and Uki smiled, hugging her.

"So are we gonna have that party or not!?" Luffy yelled, and they all got out the food and booze, drinking the stuff down. 

"Ace. That mission of yours?" Natsuki asked later that night. 

"One of my crew, namely Marshall D.Teach... He broke the one rule that kicks you out of the crew. He killed another one of us. He killed a brother, and ran away. My mission is to capture him and get him back."

"Do you need any help?"

"How far can you sense people again?"

"Perhaps the whole of Alabasta?"

"Wow. You've been training a lot haven't you... Yet you didn't notice me or Luffy?" He smirked victoriously.

"I had food in front of me. Any nemesis of mine would know not to attack me when I'm eating. Anyway, do you want me to search for him?"

"If possible, yes. His haki is just so black. It's like he just doesn't have a soul or heart that's good in him."

"Got it." Natsuki closed her eyes, and was surprised when she sensed man who was similar to Haruki in a way. She couldn't sense him, but it was obvious that you couldn't sense him. It was like there was a hole in the atmosphere, like someone just cut him out of this world and left a gap. "Ace, I think he may have eaten a devil fruit. Let me check it a bit."

Natsuki searched it up in her dictionary, and was saddened with the results.

"He's eaten the yami yami no mi. You need to be careful Ace. He is absolute darkness. A gaping hole. A vacuum which never allows you to get out. You mustn't lose Ace. I'll come flying when you need me." Natsuki hugged him dearly, and Ace beamed at her. 

"Heard from Sabo recently?"

"He won't talk to me... It's like he doesn't know us. But I don't want to intrude into his private territory if there's a reason why he's so silent."

"When are you going to tell Luffy?"

"When Sabo comes to talk to us."

"That may be a long time Natsu."

"I know. I'll go visit him soon."

"Good luck." Ace and Natsuki drank some more, though at the crack of dawn, Natsuki stood up, looked around the ship, and walked across the deck.

"Where are you going?" Zoro asked from the side.

"Just, solving a few problems for miss princess over there. What are you doing up so early?"

"Wanted to ask you a few questions."

"Would you like to come with me?"

"How long will we be?"

"Not long. Besides, if it's guarding, leave it to Fuyuki and Ace. They can sense intruders, so come on, grab my shoulder." Zoro got his katanas and touched Natsuki's shoulder, and in an instant, the two of them were gone. 


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprising others isn't easy as it seems  
> And why you do it isn't just for the screams.  
> It's for the memories and the excitement it comes with.  
> To tease your victim, is that treasure in a myth.  
> Don't think that jump and yell will be forgotten.  
> It will last forever, in a diary it will be written.   
> So prepare for the laughs and giggles, that you provoked,   
> And wish for that moment to never be revoked.
> 
> -noelicoan

Zoro managed to swallow his bile, impressing Natsuki slightly, as they arrived in front of a shady café. The board outside read 'Spider's Café" and Zoro was absolutely useless when he tried to understand why they were there.

"Zoro, you stand out a bit, so would you let me do something to you?"

"Depends on what you're going to do."

"Fair enough. I'm going to disguise you as a man with brown hair and glasses."

"How?"

"Just watch." Natsuki stuck her finger to Zoro's forehead and made signs with her hand. With a poof of smoke, in Zoro's place stood a lanky man with average brown hair and average brown eyes, looking rather nerdy if I may add. Zoro looked at his thinned down arms, and panicked.

"Where are my katanas!? My earrings? My haramaki!? I can feel it, but I can't see it?"

"It's a technique I learnt, don't question it." Natsuki also morphed into a younger girl, with long curled blonde hair, and green eyes. She became shorter, and her kimono changed into a hoodie and a pair of jeans.

She pulled on Zoro's arm and pushed the door to the café open.

"Welcome. How many people?" The place was open despite the early time.

"Um, two, thank you." A woman with curly blue hair, tied in a low ponytail led them to a table in the corner. The place was rather shabby, with slight dust on the shelves, and rips on some of the leather. Though the atmosphere was warm, with music playing in the background, and the scent of coffee touching their noses.

"What would you like?"

"May we have the spider special? Also, some raspberry cheesecake for me. Anything for you Roz?" Zoro took a while to respond, but thankfully it looked like he was just thinking about what he wanted to order.

Natsuki kicked him under the table, and he let out a low grunt. He quickly said he didn't want anything, and the woman walked back to the kitchen.

"Five? No. Six people." Natsuki assessed, using her haki to find out how many people there were.

"What? How's it that you know?"

"You'll learn soon. Just ask Luffy, if he still remembers how to use it... Anyway, what did you want to ask me?"

"How did you get that katana?"

"You mean Kusanagi?"

"Yes. That Katana is legendary. It's said that only the strongest of people can wield it. It was last seen with Dracule Tomomi, but she died before I was born."

"Twenty two."

"What?"

"Dracule Tomomi died twenty two years ago."

"How do you know that? Her death was a mystery."

"Well, I'll tell you loads about her. She's the older sister of the world's strongest sword fighter, and died after giving birth to her daughter, by the hands of other bounty hunters. She was married to one of the world's most famous pirates, and her daughter has a bounty larger than hers."

"How do you know all this?"

"The Kusanagi is handed down from mother to daughter. How's that sound?"

"YOU'RE T-" Zoro was cut off by Natsuki, who waved off the woman looking at them with wonder. "you're the daughter of Dracule Tomomi?" He whispered, and she nodded. Zoro was about to ask another question, when she kicked him again, because the lady arrived with their orders.

"Here's your coffee and cake. Enjoy, but first, may I ask a question?"

"Fire away!" Natsuki replied with fake enthusiasm.

"Why did you choose this café to eat? Surely there are others that are better, and closer to the port and city?"

"We wanted some peace and quiet, besides, we don't like that guy, you know, Crocodile?" Natsuki started, and she heard a bump and a crash from the kitchens. The owner glared in the direction but smiled back at Natsuki.

"Why do you not like him? He's a hero of the kingdom!"

"Well, I don't like sneaky bastards like him." Another bump was heard.

"Sneaky? How so?"

"Like how he sets up a café for getting information, for example."

"What on earth are you-"

"Come on miss double-finger. Did you think a disguise as trivial as that would fool me?" The woman took a few steps backwards and pressed a button on the wall. Immediately, six people arrived, all armed with different things.

There was a woman wearing a yellow dress and a blue jacket, with a lemon theme going around the whole outfit.

Then a man wearing sunglasses and a coat with the number five on his breast pocket.

Then a woman with thick and bushy red hair, wearing a Christmas tree-shaped tie.

Next to her was a rather slow-looking man with a massive number '4' on his green shirt, a sloppy dog by his foot.

Finally, there was a girl with brown hair in pigtails, holding a palette.

"How did you find out?" Miss Double-finger asked after she took off her shirt and apron, together with her glasses, revealing her tight leather bodysuit and sadistic look in her eyes.

"Well, it was a rather simple disguise, and there were six more presences in the kitchen, which is weird for such a small place like this." Natsuki ate a big bite out of her cheesecake, and smiled. It was delicious! The woman smirked in victory.

"Zoro. Don't drink that coffee." Natsuki told him, taking a big sip out of her own mug.

"What? But you're..."

"I'm immune to poison idiot. Something I decided to train myself in. Anyway, Why were you people hiding here?" Miss Double-Finger snarled.

"So you use haki?" the small girl with a palette asked.

"I guess you could say that."

"Who are you?"

"Oh, I hadn't told you yet had I? Well, your worst nightmare." Natsuki smiled, and a moment later, they were all the ground, unconscious after a massive wave of haki. Zoro stared at his captain's sister warily, as she gathered the bodies up, and lifted them up on one shoulder, and with a bright smile, disappeared again.

Zoro this time didn't throw up at all, and though he gagged, he felt better soon after. He nervously looked at the words inscribed upon the brilliant white building.

'JUSTICE'

"Where are we?"

"We, my friend, are at Marine Ford." Zoro wanted to scuttle into a small hall and hide. Why on earth were they at the base of the Marines??? "Well, I'm good friends with the guys here, and the people on my shoulder are pretty bad, so I thought this place would be the best to hand them over.

Natsuki, closed her eyes for a second, found the presence of the one she was looking for, grabbed Zoro, and they disappeared again.

"RAARRGHHHH!!" Someone attacked them, and Zoro let out a very manly shriek, but remembered who he was with, and where he was, and shut up.

"Ojii-chan, I'm doing you a favour, so no attacking the granddaughter please." Natsuki complained, letting the six people and one dog down, as she blocked the punch from her grandfather.

"Who are they this time?"

"Rebels against the Nefertari royal family."

"So the puppets of Crocodile then?"

"Yeah. Will you let me go now?"

"Yup, but we'll have to raise your bounty again. No one's supposed to be able to get here and out alive if they're a pirate." Garp laughed, munching on some rice crackers. Zoro looked at the two of them, and Garp finally seemed to notice him. "And who are you?"

"I'm Roronoa Zoro."

"Ah, Pirate hunter. You joined... you joined... someone's crew... I can't remember." Zoro fell to the ground as the old man scratched his head apologetically.

"He's your grandson's first mate Ojii-chan..." Zoro's eyes widened. So this was Luffy's grandfather!?

"Luffy's eh? Talking of grandson, have you found Sabo yet?"

"No. He and uncle Dragon keep moving. As if they're trying to avoid me. Though I do wonder why Sabo refuses to meet me though."

"I'm sure he has his reasons. Have you met with your father yet?"

"No. I promised that I won't meet him until I become stronger than mum."

"Talking of that, I heard that they might be giving that position of fifth emperor to someone soon. Though it depends on what happens within the time scheme."

"I know. Welp, seems that they've noticed me. I'll meet you sometime soon. Stay healthy! Don't die! Love you!" Natsuki told him, just as an army of men rammed into the room. She grabbed Zoro's arm again, and they reappeared on the Merry, where they were met with a stick to the neck.

"Where were you?" Fuyuki calmly asked, taking his stick back.

"Places. Also, wake the seasons. It's time to go." Zoro looked at her, wondering why she was leaving so early. "Gotta cause some ruckus before Luffy defeats Crocodile. Just placing the cushions before he makes the jump." Natsuki smiled, and told him to keep it a secret.

"Are we leaving already? I wanted to stay longer." Haruki complained

"Well, vent that annoyance on your enemies because we're fighting soon." Fuyuki instructed as he woke Uki.

Natsuki walked over to her two brothers, smiling fondly at the two. She left a simple clone to explain where they were, and took off, to save the world in secrecy. 


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Riddles unanswered,  
> Questions unsolved.   
> Hints required,  
> Suspects involved.
> 
> To answer the question,  
> To solve the riddle.  
> A suspect's session,  
> A hint in the middle.
> 
> Once you've finished  
> You get to the end,  
> You've solved that mystery,  
> With a family to mend.
> 
> -noelicoan

Natsuki dropped the last of the men on a massive pile in front of Marine Ford, smirking at the thought that there were no more millions or billions in Alabasta.

"Time to take off guys. Shall we go on another adventure?"

"Yeah!" The seasons joined their hands, and reappeared on board of their Kazoku-gunkan. Though something glitched when Natsuki did so. They landed safely, but it was a much weirder experience. The atmosphere changed from ocean to forest for a second, but the problem was, that Natsuki recognised the place.

"No! No. Not that place again..." She ran to the side of the ship, ready to throw up, thankfully keeping it in until the last minute. Uki tried to run to her, but Fuyuki stopped her.

"She needs to figure this out first, or she'll sulk for days again, like she did when we answered that riddle she was trying to answer a year ago." He joked, but the seriousness never left his voice. They just watched her as she mumbled, her palms and forehead sweating badly. Though when night fell, she calmed down, walking into the kitchen for a midnight snack.

"Better?"

"Still confused."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Sorry, but I want more time. Sorry Fuyu. Where are the others?"

"They're all asleep."

"Is it already that late?"

"It is midnight Natsu."

"Time flies when you're having fun... The problem is, that it also flies when the problem is too big." She grumbled, munching into a piece of cake.

"I'm sure you'll find the solution Natsu."

"If that solution involves you guys coming to another world, would you say the same?" Fuyuki seemed slightly taken aback.

"That's what the glitching was?"

"Uh huh." She began the mumbling again, and Fuyuki decided to leave her alone.

The next morning, she walked into the kitchen with circles under her eyes.

"Woah. You've slept well." Haruki said sarcastically, and Natsuki didn't even have the energy to whack his head.

"Did you get a solution?" Aki asked knowingly, as she was in the crows nest last night, accidentally listening in on her captain and vice-captain's conversation.

"Yup."

"Wait, a solution to what? World poverty? If so, then you're amazing to have been able to solve that in a night." Haruki said again, and this time Uki hit him.

"Will you just shut up and listen for once?" Kanki grumbled.

"Alright, alright." Haruki smirked, he hadn't made the calm Kanki irritated in a long time.

"So, you guys know how I come from another world."

"Really!? Never knew"

"HARUKI!" Kanki yelled, and Haruki laughed at his success.

"Sorry... So?" He said once he calmed down after his laughter.

"As I was saying, so that glitch which happened yesterday. That's my last world. For some reason, it's trying to take me back. So, I'm going to try and go back to that world, but what I spent the last whole night doing, was developing a new seal which allows us to travel between the two worlds freely. So that we can come back here, even after going there. What do you think?"

"I want to go!"

"May I please kill your parents though? I know what they did to you."

"Nah, though what I will be doing, is to disguise myself as Naruto again, but much older. 28, if I were gone for that long in that world as well. If they react any differently from before, I may forgive them, but if they are the same, then we're leaving for good, no matter how bad their situation is. Good plan?"

"Yeah! Are we going in disguise!?"

"Well, you don't really need one. Nor do I. So, all we need is, well, your weapons, and perhaps a few snacks, but just in case, let's all take hoods. We can go back anytime after all." The all nodded, and Fuyuki retrieved his Shepard's stick, Aki got her pouch of seeds. Haruki got his sword and gun, and Kanki took his gloves from the wardrobe, putting them on. Uki was checking for snacks, and Natsuki placed security and invisibility seals around the ship. The invisibility seal was something she made with the help of Haruki's blood, with his ability to camouflage things.

"Everyone ready?" Natsuki drew out a massive seal on the deck of their ship, and the six seasons held hands, standing around it. "Jump onto it, in three, two, one!"

With a flash of lightning, the seasons disappeared.

* * *

Six people came tumbling out of the sky on top of the country of fire. They landed perfectly on top of the Hokage rock of the fourth Hokage, and watched the destruction in awe.

"I never thought I'd see this much carnage, and if I did, it was when we had seen the whole of the world, but never thought I'd see this sight so early in my life..." Uki said before she threw up her breakfast in a bush.

The place was soaked in blood, with more blood, and to top it all off, even more of the thick red liquid. The faces of the Hokage's were taken off, and the houses were destroyed. Natsuki's hardened face looked at the claw marks on the ground with worry.

She used her haki and the population beneath them, hidden from something, or rather someone.

Jumping down from the head of the kage's, she located the secret door, and pushed it open.

The seasons first heard a shrill scream before anything else. They looked down, to find thousands of people staring at them tiredly, all hope gone.

"Who are you?" A boy with a tight, pineapple-shaped ponytail asked.

"What happened? There used to be such a beautiful village here. Bright sun and smiling children..." Natsuki, recognising Shikamaru, decided upon a new plan. She discreetly made a shadow clone, disguising it as her sixteen year old self as Naruto.

"Have you been living under stone? These past thirteen months have been a living hell for us. The..." Another boy, with red markings on his face rubbed Shikamaru's shoulder as the he wiped his eyes.

"About a year ago, our leaders made a grave mistake. They let go of a boy, which let a beast go on a rampage. The beast destroyed everything. Killed every single anbu, except the Hokage and his wife. He keeps them as prisoners." Kiba told them.

"That old fart... I knew he cared for me!" Naruto the clone yelled.

"What?"

"Oh, sorry. I forgot to tell you. This is Winter, this is Spring, Autumn, Rain, and Sand, and I am Summer." Natsuki interrupted 'Naruto'.

"And you?" A girl with pink hair and green eyes asked, pointing at a shadow right at the back.

"How sad Sakura-chan! You forgot about me!" Naruto smiled, taking off his hood, revealing spiky blond hair and whiskered cheeks.

"Na- Naruto?" Sasuke asked, and the whole of Naruto's generation came forward.

"Dattebayo! Did you guys forget about me!? How rude! Can you believe it Winter!" Fuyuki grunted, not liking this really loud persona his captain adopted.

"NARUTO!" Spring and Rain jumped to the defensive when the people surged forward, but relaxed when one of them, the one with spiky red hair and a plump body carried their captain on his shoulders, a smile on his face.

"Naruto has come back! He's come to save us all!" The crowd cheered and cried, leaving a smudge of disapproval in the Season's hearts.

The cheers died down and Naruto was set on the ground when Choji released him.

"Where have you been for this last year?" Sasuke asked his teammate, and Naruto silently debated whether or not to tell a full lie, or the twisted truth.

"I lost my memory. I only retrieved them a few days ago."

"How did you lose your memory?"

"Oh, my parents didn't tell you?"

"Parents?"

"God's sake... My father is the fourth Hokage. Don't recognise me from the face?" Naruto waved at his head obviously, and the citizens of the village hidden in the leaves all gasped. Then the one they tortured was...

"What?" Shino asked, trying to make sense of the situation.

"Yup, so long story short, my father and mother are the leaders of the village, but the villagers hated me so much, they decided to try and kill me, and convinced my parents that I was dead. Then, my parents forgot about me for ten years, found me, adopted me, then forgot about me again, and they wiped my memories a year ago, when I was fifteen." He summarised. The rest went slack jawed, and three people coughed behind Naruto, hiding obvious laughter.

"Where did you meet these people?" Neji asked from the side, walking forward.

"They were the ones who helped me for these past months. They taught me things I never would've learnt here, provided a place to sleep and food to eat. They are my family."

"Then how come they didn't tell you what was happening here? Besides, what's with the hoods?" Naruto nodded at Winter, who was the first to take his hood off.

"We have our own reasons, sir. My name is Winter, and I come from a clan which controls snow."

"Like Haku?" Sakura asked with poor understanding. Winter shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but I do not know who he or she is. Anyway, everyone wanted the power of my clan, so I migrated to the woods when I was young, when Summer found me." Fuyuki gestured for his captain, who waved in return. "We collected similar children like me, and we each forgot our names, naming ourselves with what our clan jutsus were associated with. Like myself, as I am Winter. I became the vice head of my small orphanage when Naruto came along, with absolutely no memory. We helped him get back on track, and trained with him, when just the other day, he remembered everything."

"That doesn't answer why you didn't know the situation Konoha was in though." Shikamaru asked.

"Doesn't it? A group of children hunted by the most elite of ninjas for their blood lines. What did you expect? To just go around the kingdoms, knowing everything happening around us?"

"Sorry. I wasn't thinking properly."

"It's alright. Seasons?"

"My name is Autumn. My bloodline is to grow things up until the age of harvest."

"Shouldn't you be spring then?"

"Is it springtime that is called the season of harvest? I think not. Besides, he's Spring." She pointed at Haruki. "My bloodline is to grow things until the age of harvest, and I will not be repeating it a third time just for the sake of your poor understanding." Aki said, taking off her hood as well.

"Geez Autumn, scare them off will ya?" Haruki exclaimed, and Aki glared hard at him, silently rendering that she was creating a different persona. "Meh. Well, I'm Spring! I can disappear out of sight." He did some fake hand signs just for show and used his devil fruit ability to camouflage himself.

"Show off." Uki sighed.

"Shut up Rain!" Uki scoffed, taking off her hood.

"Shut up Spring. You're embarrassing all of us. Anyway, I'm Rain, and as my name suggests, my blood line lets me control where, when, and what rains." She took a step backward, and Kanki stepped forward.

"I am Sand. I do not have powers of Sand, but I can dry all the liquid from someone's body, or anything with water in it. My powers came with a curse, and it makes me dry things with just a touch, so please don't try to take my gloves off if you don't want to die."

"And finally, I'm Summer. I don't have any bloodlines, but I have trained in the many styles of ninjutsu. My mother died when I was born, and my father likes travelling, leaving me to get stronger." Natsuki said, and the rest smiled up at her, or in the boy's case, smiling down at her; because she was the one who made their family, and was there for them when things were hard.

"How old are you all? You seem so civilised compared to some of the brats here." Ino chimed in, instantly forgetting that she herself was still rather young.

"Well, I'm 22, and in order of Winter, Sand, Autumn, Spring and Rain, they are 25, 21, 20, 18, and 14."

"Enough on us. Why on earth are you all cooped up here?" Haruki asked without hesitation.

"It all started a year ago, when Naruto disappeared, and the demon beast appeared." Shikamaru gravely started. 


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What I thought was a lie,  
> Turned into the truth.  
> Like a beast in disguise,  
> As it pounced in my youth.
> 
> It was the monster under my bed,  
> Hiding in the shadows  
> Something I knew didn't exist,  
> But searched, and froze.
> 
> Those monsters are real,  
> I now know.  
> I see myself grow into one,  
> "I'm late for work! Must go!"
> 
> -noelicoan

"It was absolute horror. A massive fox started thrashing around, destroying homes, houses, the Hokage stones as well. It killed all the anbu who tried to kill it, but when the Hokage and Lady Kushina arrived, it took them, and disappeared with a warning, telling us that if we tried to go after it, he would kill everyone, and what we don't understand, is that he swore on your name, Naruto." Shikamaru explained with difficulty, the villagers looking glum and defeated.

"That may be because he was like a father to me." The citizens yelled in outrage, but the seasons made a barrier between he and them, protecting Natsuki's clone from popping.

"What do you mean Naruto?"

"Sixteen years ago, there was a similar event to this. My mother, Kushina was a jinchuuriki, and was the past jailer of the nine-tailed fox demon. She was pregnant with me, and when I was born, her seal weakened. Taking advantage of her state, a villain controlled the fox beast to kill many. That night, some of your family may have died." Naruto addressed the villagers.

"So the Kyuubi was controlled the last time?"

"Yes." Murmurs broke out.

"How do you know!?" Temari asked desperately. Both her parents died a year ago, and she was nowhere near forgiving the beast.

"Because the manipulator tried to kidnap me once after I became a teenager. Anyway, that's not what I'm talking about. What I was getting to was that when the beast broke out, the Third Hokage sealed it in me, using his own life as a price. The ninjas then, who were previously fighting the beast, decided to hide me from my parents. They were driven by hate and anguish of losing their loved ones, and I barely survived until I was ten. My father and mother found me by accident and took me in as their son. Then, when our entrance exams began, I failed three times."

Kiba sniggered, but shut up immediately when he felt the overwhelming killing intent **(KI=Haki)** from some unknown source, which made him want to crawl into a cave and hide. "My parents began to neglect me, and the villagers began to torture me. I finally got into the school, but I couldn't catch up with work because of my daily beatings. Then, when I was twelve, I met the beast by accident. He was kind and friendly. It was my first time to receive a hug..."

The rookie ten glared at the villagers, and they cowered in fear. The seasons doing the same except for Natsuki, who leaned back, taking a trip down memory lane.

"He was the father, friend, family that I never had. So when I became fifteen, and my parents found a solution to their 'problem' called me, I was teleported to these guys, and Kurama was set free." The rest of the village realised, what they had done was absolutely unforgivable, and they all began to worry what they would get in return.

"Well, at least he found us! Right!?" Haruki exclaimed, brightening the mood by a notch.

"Yeah. Also, I had been wondering, but is there no leader anymore?"

"Our advisers are still around, and if you want to meet them, we can show the way..." Sakura whispered, thinking back on the days when she used to push Naruto aside for being annoying.

"Thank you Sakura-chan!" The villagers parted to make way for the boy they once taunted, once tortured, once tormented, their remorse filled in their actions.

They arrived at a small room at the back, and Natsuki's anger boiled when she saw three old people. One woman, and two men. They were having lunch, on a table with a cloth draped on it, with silver cutlery and tea to go with it, wearing clean clothes, and their bodies washed, laughter heard until a second ago.

"Who is it?"

"It's Naruto, Koharu-sama." Sakura answered, and quickly retreated.

"Ah, the demon who left his town to perish. Who are your companions?"

"You never change do you, you old bitch." Naruto smiled tightly, briefly forgetting to be Naruto.

"How dare you!" Koharu started, but was interrupted by Natsuki, who growled back at her. Naruto dispersed, surprising them a little.

"How dare me? How dare _you!_ Your people are out there, slowly starving, unable to clean themselves, drink all they want, wear simple clothes, and yet here you are, living in absolute luxury, as if this were all some joke! You're the leaders now! So LEAD!" Natsuki ended up ranting for a solid thirty minutes, and her crew did nothing to stop her. She finished with a final growl and huff, and Danzo still had the nerve to talk.

"What would you know girl, how to lead?"

"I have seen kingdoms rise, fall, and rebuild itself. I have seen absolute misery, I have seen a broken world at its finest, so don't you dare assume that I know nothing!"

"Hm? How so? I bet you're just a bunch of brats thinking they're the strongest in the world!" Going with their story, Fuyuki started.

"Sure, if you think five bloodlines of snow, rain, dryness, harvest and invisibility isn't strong, then be my guest." The three disgusting senile leaders practically drooled at the power they claimed.

"What would you like?"

"What?"

"What would you like in return of killing the fox demon?"

"Nothing, because we won't be killing the fox demon." Natsuki stated irritably.

"I would. Kill it, I mean." Kanki said, and the seasons turned to him with wide eyes, but a few of them smirked secretly.

"That's a good man! Name your price!"

"Food, water and clothes for everyone in the village, and I will do at your bid."

"Grrr... Fine!" Danzo went to the back of their room, and grabbed around fifty scrolls. "This had food, drink and clothes sealed in it. Do what you will."

"Kanki!" Uki yelled his real name, but he ignored it.

"Thank you sir." Kanki secretly took off his gloves, and shook Danzo's hand with a strong grip. "You've been an amazing co-operator."

Danzo shrivelled up and wrinkled, until he practically snapped himself to death. He then turned into a small pile of dust, and was dead.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" The elders yelled, but Kanki shrugged in response.

"What? I never said I wouldn't kill him." Uki let out a relieved sigh.

"Kanki... You shouldn't have killed him." Homura and Koharu seemed slightly less on edge, until Natsuki completed her sentence. "You should've tortured him painfully first, then kill him."

"True. I guess in that way, your powers are inconvenient." Aki joined in.

"So that's what we'll do to these old geezers?" Uki said too.

"No no no. We should first shoot them with Haru's guns, then freeze them with mine and Kan's powers, then Uki can rain acid on them, then Aki can slowly rot them, and then Natsu can have the finishing blow." Fuyuki smirked.

"Ooh or both Natsu and I can shoot them!" Haru exclaimed as well.

All six of them looked at the two with a dark gleam in their eyes, and the elders wished they could kill themselves rather than face these psychos.

"Or, we can just kill them by repeatedly stabbing them with Kusanagi."

"Yeah!" Natsuki readied her katana, and pretended to slice at them, as she used her haki to make them unconscious.

"Where are you going to take them?" Kanki asked as his captain carried the two old people on her shoulder.

"To an old friend. Come on!"

They teleported outside, where they were when they arrived, and rested a bit, as Natsuki used her hiraishin to travel all around the village.

"I found Kurama, let's go." They grabbed onto her, and they reappeared in front of a massive cave in a forest.

 **"Who dare enters to cave of the nine-tailed fox."** A voice came booming from the other end.

"Your old friend, Kurama." Natsuki replied. Massive footsteps were heard, and a giant fox with nine tails swinging behind it appeared.

**"You... I know your chakra... But you don't seem to be the same person who had that chakra..."**

"Long time no see Kura-chan." Natsuki smiled, and Kurama looked at her closely, noticing a small tattoo on her left eye.

He remembered a conversation he had with Naruto after a bad day of torture on the way back from the academy.

"You know, Kura-chan! I want a tattoo when I grow up! I saw one on an anbu with a dog mask today! He was so cool! He saved me, and was really nice! I want one with a fire, which has smoke coming from it, shaped like you!" He described, and Kurama remembered himself smiling at the little bundle of sunshine.

**"Naruto? Is that you?"**

"Long time no see Kura-chan, but I'm afraid I'm Natsuki now." Natsuki grinned up at her furry friend, who shrank and shrank until he was the size of a horse. He jumped onto Natsuki, and licked her face all over, making her fall and giggle.

**"I thought I would never see you again!"**

"Well I'm here now aren't I?"

**"Promise you won't go again?"**

"I will be going Kurama, but this time, you'll come with me." She smiled, and began to draw a seal on her own stomach.

"Eight Trigrams Sealing!" She exclaimed, and when she did so, the Shinigami appeared.

_**"What do you offer in replacement of the seal?"** _

"The life of these two elders."

_**"good enough."** _

The Shinigami retreated, and Kurama disappeared, into Natsuki's seal, where he would be able to stay, even when she jumped worlds.

Natsuki smiled at her stomach, hearing the nostalgic voice of her friend in her head as he explored her memories of the other world.

All was well until they heard a voice.

"Help!"

"Someone save us!" Natsuki frowned, as did the others, for they knew who was crying for help.

The ventured into the cave, where they found two cages hanging above, one with a woman with flaming red hair, in a tattered anbu outfit, and the other with a man with spiky blond hair, a dirty white cape on his back.

Lady Kushina and Lord Hokage were still alive...


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trust. Such a fickle thing.  
> With a slight touch,  
> It wavers, and without courage  
> You can't do much.
> 
> The bridge between you crumples.  
> All you do is watch.  
> That person you loved with all your heart,  
> Wasn't your golden match.
> 
> -noelicoan

"Save us!" She pleaded, tears running down her face.

"Please! We can't leave because there's a seal which only lets people on the outside open it!" The Hokage yelled shamelessly.

"What makes you think that we'll save you?" Kanki asked, and the leaders of the hidden village of the leaves went quiet.

"Why won't you? Isn't that common kindness?" Kushina asked, making them snarl in disgust.

"Don't you dare start about kindness. You haven't earned the right to talk about kindness in front of us!" Haruki exclaimed.

"What are you talking about!? We are the leaders of Konoha!"

"But you should've been the parents of Naruto first." They shut up once more.

"How do you know that?"

"Because I am Naruto." Natsuki took off her hood, revealing her disguised spiky blond hair and azure blue eyes.

"W-what? B-but, we- we sent you..."

"Yes, and I must thank you for that really... You sent me to a world of opposites... You gave me my crew, you gave me my adventures, you gave me my brains and power, because you gave birth to me, as a complete loner, who was stupid and powerless. You allowed me to be smart and strong, in this world of opposites. You were cold and distant, giving me a warm and close family. You let me have my friends, you let Kami be on my side. So, thank you." Natsuki slowly returned to her original form, surprising the common sense out of them.

"Who are you!?"

"Yup, I became my opposite gender as well! Anyway, good bye, and I hope you die a horrible death." She grinned, waved goodbye, and walked away, ignoring the cries of her biological parents.

They leapt out of the cave, Kurama settling down and relaxing in Natsuki's mindscape.

The seasons stayed in this world for approximately a week, when summer suddenly collapsed.

"Natsuki!?" They all ran to her, surprised to see tears running down her face.

"Ace?" Natsuki slid on her mask.

"Natsuki! What happened!?" they all grabbed her shoulder, and they appeared on board the world-jumping seal on their very own Kaizoku-gunkan. They disappeared again and reappeared in front of Marine ford.

It was absolute chaos.

With marine soldiers and pirates of all widths and sizes fighting neck to neck. There were already hundreds of casualties, and in the middle of them all was Natsuki's younger brothers.

Ace was on his execution platform, about to face the same end as his father.

Two men stood behind him, spears in hand, and behind the soldiers was Sengoku, ordering different soldiers with his den-den mushi. Next to Ace, sitting down was Garp, who was solemnly telling tales about Ace's birth.

Luffy was steadily advancing towards his older brother, when he was stopped by a famous man: the strongest swordsman in the world.

"HAWKEYE!" Luffy exclaimed, and Natsuki couldn't do anything, as she stood there, paralysed.

Invisible shackles, anchors and weights pulled her down. She stood there helplessly as she watched the war wage on.

"Natsuki! Your orders!?" Haruki tried, but she wouldn't respond. Fuyuki took off her mask and was met by a pair of blank eyes. She was like a body left soulless.

"Natsuki? How long have you been training?" He asked, and she whispered a soft,

"...Thirteen years."

"For what?"

"To protect my family. So that I wouldn't have to watch myself be helpless when my family are in need." She sounded surer by the end of her answer.

"Your brothers are dying there, and what are you doing? You're just watching, when you can do so much more!" He yelled at her, and she met his gaze.

She looked at the mask in his hand, took it from him, and threw it hard at the ground.

The shackles were broken, anchors were pulled up, weights were lifted, and she was free. She unsheathed her double-edged blade, and commanded.

"Uki! Heal all pirates! Aki! Kan! Haru! Fuyu! ATTACK!" They all ran in different directions, and Natsuki made ten kagebunshins. She herself, immediately disappeared, reappearing in front of her youngest brother. She met her uncle's blade with her own, and his surprise was visible.

"Tomo? Is that you?" He mumbled, staggering backward.

"No, uncle Hawk. It's your niece. Natsuki." She sliced down with her katana and he avoided it at a hair's distance. The floor cracked open, and the grounds of Marine ford were divided in two. The pirates looked at the famous sword fighter, expecting the blow to have come from him, only just noticing that the sword he held seconds ago was in shreds, at his feet.

A woman, with blazing red hair, holding a double-edged katana to Mihawk's head stood in front of Luffy.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Akagami D. Natsuki. Nice to meet you uncle Mihawk. Luffy! What are you waiting for!? Go get Ace!!" Luffy stumbled onto his feet and began running at his brother once more.

"It's time to send you back to the starting line." Kizaru drawled out, as he kicked Luffy at the speed of light. Thankfully, Jimbe stopped Luffy from flying too far.

Whitebeard's division commanders aided Luffy into trying to get past Kizaru, but it was obvious that it was a one sided match. Until Natsuki surged forward again.

"How come you're here? Where's Mihawk!?" Borsalino looked panicked. He thought he could fight easily, since the one who defeated him last time was not here.

He looked back at Mihawk, to see that Natsuki was still battling him. How were there two of the same people?

"Long time no see Kizaru? How was the first time to be defeated by a pirate?" Natsuki asked, cutting down at Kizaru's torso.

"I've never fought you!"

"Oh yes you have. Remember? At Sabaody Archipelago?"

"Then you're! You're-" Kizaru fell to the ground, unconscious, as Natsuki used her Emperor's haki on him. The same happened with Mihawk, and two of the strongest men on sight were defeated in a second.

"OYAJI!!!" The crew of Whitebeard shouted as Squard, one of the new generation crew stabbed him in the stomach.

Natsuki signalled to Uki from the other side of the battlefield, and she began her magic.

The pirates looked up into the clouds as their energy was replenished, wounds sizzled and healed, strength welling up inside them.

"It's the Raining Miracle!" Someone exclaimed, and the Marine's attention was suddenly on her. Sengoku began to panic. There was a mysterious girl who somehow managed to defeat both Mihawk and Kizaru, and another girl who was healing the pirates.

"Marines! Look for Ryokuryuu, Drying Desert, Forest Fighter, Jack Frost and the Striking Vixen! They never travel without each other!!!" He yelled, panicking suddenly as their chances of winning levelled down.

Surely enough. In the corner of his eye, he saw people falling to the ground, quite thin compared to what he was used to seeing. He saw a man with an eye patch running in the midst of it, tapping people with his finger, watching them as the liquid was sucked out of the soldiers. Not enough to kill them, but enough to exhaust them and overwhelm them with fatigue.

Another thing he found in the corner of his eye was a woman, who seemingly out of nowhere, made a massive vine cage, which was 'eating' the soldiers, tripping and dragging the soldiers inside its cage. She ran around the fields of men with a hard look on her face, as she tapped their joints and body parts, making them immobile.

Green hair caught his attention as a boy ran around the battlefield, disappearing and appearing everywhere, stabbing people with his swords, and punching them in the gut with haki enhanced fists.

Finally, high up in the sky was a man holding a shepherd stick. He was floating on a small cloud serenely, but beneath the cloud was a massive snowstorm, freezing anyone who happened to be beneath it, including the pirates, but then Uki would immediately thaw Fuyuki's victims.

Sengoku searched and searched, but he could not find the Striking Vixen, until he felt someone suddenly appear behind him.

"Hello Sengoku." A woman he expected to be the Striking Vixen called. He turned around to find the girl who defeated both Mihawk and Kizaru standing between he and Garp. The two men guarding Ace collapsed.

"Who are you?"

"How cold. You don't recognise me because I don't have a mask?" She complained.

"You're the face behind the mask!?"

"And he's hit the jackpot!!" She exclaimed, and Ace, despite his 'father' just being stabbed, smiled a little.

"Natsuki? Why are you here? How are you here?"

"Ojii-chan, my seal notifies me when a person with my seal is in danger, like now. Come on Ace, let's set you free." Natsuki smiled painfully at Ace.

Though making it look easy, defeating those two whilst using all those kagebunshin, which wasn't one of her strong suits sapped a large amount of her energy. Even with Kurama to help with the load. He body wasn't used to handling Kurama yet, and to use his power would be stupid and dangerous. 

She shot his shackles with her sea-stone bullets, and his shackles snapped in two. Ace stood up and rubbed his wrists, frowning at the red marks it left.

"Thank you Natsu-nee." Ace hugged her, and she smiled back.

"You! You're related to Fire Fist?" Sengoku was still unable to comprehend what the hell was going on in front of him.

"Sengoku... I am the eldest sister of Portgas D. Ace, Sabo, and Monkey D. Luffy. I am the granddaughter of Garp, and the daughter of Dracule Tomomi. So before you go around like a stuttering oaf, why don't you actually start thinking of ways to capture me?" She smirked at him, and the siblings jumped down from the execution platform, carefully avoiding a fist which came from their grandfather, after he was ordered to get the two of them.

Gears turned and clicked in Sengoku's head. Tomomi's daughter, but with red hair... Red hair... He remembered a really old gossip magazine he was forced to read by one of his colleagues, one which said something along the lines of: **Top News! Hot Love Blooming Between the Strongest Pirate and the Strongest Swords woman! Find out more at page nine!** He remembered seeing Shanks' face next to Tomomi's, both flushed red in the article.

She was the daughter of Akagami no Shanks!!

"You brats! I'll get you! Just you wait!" Garp's yell interrupted his thoughts.

"If we waited, we'd be around for a thousand years! You're too slow old man!" Ace yelled back, and Garp tried to jump after, until Natsuki made a kagebunshin to stop him.

"You just had to say..." Natsuki groaned, until she saw, "LUFFY!!!!!!"

Luffy was obliviously running towards Ace and herself, not noticing Akainu and Aokiji who had come behind him.

"Wah!" He ducked, holding his head, when his irises turned silver, sending out a shocking wave of haki, making the two admirals collapse. The field of marines silenced, as more and more people collapsed, unconscious.

"Whoever defeated these two, thank you!" Luffy smiled once he realised he wasn't dead, and there were no longer two admirals after him.

Natsuki looked at Luffy with beaming pride. So Luffy had the Haoushoku as well!

"Seasons! Assemble!" She exclaimed, and immediately five people came running at her. Natsuki collapsed into Fuyuki's arms and he swiftly caught her, realising how tired she was.

Ace looked at him sceptically and glared hard. Fuyuki returned the glare, and they realised that they were similar people. Ace decided he was worthy of his sister, and Fuyuki acknowledged his captain's brother. Luffy laughed with Haruki and Kanki, playing pranks on each other.

Sengoku looked at the battlefield. No matter how you looked at it, the Pirates had won. He glanced at the group of the pirates beneath the execution platform, and rage bubbled inside him. If they hadn't appeared, they would have won!

"To the rest of the world listening to this. I have a report to make. Earlier, I had announced that the father of Portgas D. Ace was the pirate king, Gol D. Roger, and Monkey D. Luffy's father was Dragon, the revolutionary. Well, I have another big announcement to make. The Striking Vixen, an abominable pirate troubling us for years, has just been found out to be these two pirates' older sister! Having the father of the Pirate Emperor! Red Haired Shanks!" He announced, and Natsuki cursed loudly.

"Her mother was Dracule Tomomi, older sister of Dracule Mihawk, who held the previous title of strongest swords woman!" He continued to tell, and a camera den-den mushi captured Natsuki's face, scaring the snail who just happened to take a photo of her glaring hard at Sengoku.

"That little piece of shit." She whispered and staggered onto her feet. She tried to step forward, but her adrenaline rush had ended. Her body was beginning to feel the aftermath of the toil of her techniques. She blinked for what felt like a second, but when she opened her eyes, Sengoku was right next to her, in his devil fruit form, his fist coated with haki, as he plunged his hand into Ace's body, trying to protect Luffy.

**_"NO!"_ **


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gone from this world,   
> Gone like the wisp of smoke in the sky  
> Gone, out cold,  
> I hold you and I can't help but cry.
> 
> I watched you go,   
> Now I can't stand the sight,  
> Of this world who yelled no  
> When laughing as they'd start a fight.
> 
> In memories you now remain,  
> And I guess that I'm half sad.  
> That the life you lived was in vain,  
> And hasn't changed the world from bad.
> 
> -noelicoan

It happened all so quickly...

She punched Sengoku so hard, that he went flying, hitting the stone wall to the side, denting it. She cradled Ace, and used her chakra to heal him, but the wound didn't heal.

His devil fruit was trying to make itself into flames again when Sengoku hit him, that when Sengoku's fist hit him, his body swallowed Sengoku's fist, allowing it to damage him severely.

Ace's flames crawled to Luffy's stomach as Ace fell on top of him. Luffy sobbed as he looked at his hand now covered in blood.

"I'm sorry Luffy, Natsuki... I'm sorry you didn't get to save me... I'm sorry." Ace said, and Luffy inched closer, his eyes teary. Natsuki dropped to the ground, unable to look at Ace in the eyes. If she had been smarter, quicker, stronger...

"Somebody help him!" Luffy yelled.

"It's no use! I know I'm dying. My guts have burnt itself. I'm not gonna last long, so listen to me Luffy, Natsuki."

"What are you saying!?" Luffy denied the truth. "Are you gonna die Ace!? You promised me remember!? You said you'd never die! Isn't that what you told me Ace!?" Luffy yelled, and the seasons looked down. Even Uki, who had been trying to heal him with her rain, knew it was of no more use to try and heal him. Natsuki was silent the whole time.

"Yeah. If I didn't have a little brother that needed to be taken care of.. I would've given up then." Ace remembered all the comments he received when he suggested to people the idea of the former pirate king having a son. "Nobody wanted me. It couldn't be helped..." Natsuki sobbed, not even bothering to hide her tears, which was creating a waterfall on her face.

"If you ever see Makino again, please give my regards... _huff..._ Dying makes me nostalgic of people I knew a long long time ago... But there's one thing I've left undone... I wasn't able to see your dreams through the end... But you... I know you can do it... You're my little brother! You're Natsuki's, Sabo's and my little brother... We know you can do it! Natsuki, I'm sure you'll be greater than any pirate out there! You're my pride! Just like you are Luffy!" Ace smiled, hugging Luffy with his remaining strength. "Just like how I swore back then... I have no regrets!"

"Liar! You're lying!" Luffy denied.

"What I really wanted wasn't fame... All I wanted to know was whether or not I should've been born... _Huff!_ I can't even shout anymore... Luffy, listen to my next words carefully... _huff..._ Tell everybody what I say to you." Ace took a deep breath although his heartbeat was getting quicker and quicker.

"Pops and Fellow Pirates! Luffy, Natsuki. I've always been such a helpless person... _huff, huff..._ I was demon spawn... The son of a devil!" Natsuki shook her head, drying her face which kept getting damp.

"Thank you... For loving me!" The words robbed his life force.

His muscles tensed before they released, and he fell to the ground, leaving Luffy's embrace.

* * *

_"You thought I was dead!?" Ace yelled as he scolded Luffy who was worried that Ace was eaten by a bear. "What are you crying for!? How dare you kill me off you idiot!"_

* * *

_"I promise you I'm never gonna die! I can't leave a wimpy little brother like you and die!" Ace told Luffy._

* * *

_"Of course they would! You are family, aren't you? Family protect each other." Ace heard himself say, the image of Sabo, Luffy and Natsuki coming to his head._

* * *

_"Today, we become siblings. When we become pirates, we might not be on the same ship together..." Natsuki started._

_"But the four of us will always be siblings." Luffy said with a bright smile._

_"No matter where we are or what we do, this bond will never be broken!" Sabo included._

_"Starting today! We're siblings!" Ace said finally._

* * *

Natsuki bawled and bawled, shaking Ace's body. This couldn't be happening again. Not again...

She cried and cried, and the whole world cried in pain with her. Her voice echoed their emotions, reminding them of their worst days, pulling it out for everyone to see.

Luffy was broken, unable to get it past his mind that Ace, his older brother, was gone.

**_"ACE!!!!"_ **

Both siblings cried and cried, until they both fell unconscious. Both just fell to the ground, and Sengoku, who had just recovered from Natsuki's punch, tried to attack them again.

"Protect Ace's siblings! It was Ace's final wish!" Marco yelled, and the White Beard pirates took the seasonal pirates to safety.

"Sengoku-san! Look out!" The remaining marines yelled, as they saw Whitebeard loom over him. The giant man hit Sengoku hard.

When Sengoku tried to retaliate, Whitebeard hit him harder, and this time, the whole of the Navy Headquarters cracked in half.

"Hey! What's that thing!?" The soldiers asked when they found a giant hiding behind the now broken navy building.

"You found me..." The giant blushed.

"That's not all! Look who's that on the execution platform!?"

"You finally noticed." The man in the centre said, making some of the madder shichibukai laugh.

"You..." If looks could kill, Blackbeard would've been stabbed, strangled, tortured, shot, slashed at, by Whitebeard's glare.

"The Black Beard Pirates!!"

"Zehahahahahahahaa!! Nice to see ya pops! Glad I'll get to kill you!"

"Teach..."

"He's got the worst criminals with him!" The soldiers began to panic. Whitebeard swung his bisento at Blackbeard, and continued to attack, nearly killing Marshall D. Teach, but on impact, the ground between Whitebeard and the rest of the pirates split. Natsuki woke up, but Luffy remained unconscious.

"Pops!!!"

The horrid man got away, and when Whitebeard tried to attack once more, this time he was attacked by Blackbeard's men. Blackbeard smirked upon his victory but jumped when Edward Newgate spoke.

"You're not him. The man Roger was waiting for is definitely not you, Teach..."

"Huh?"

"Just as there are some who inherited Roger's will, someone will eventually do the same for Ace. You can sever bloodlines, but their flames will never be extinguished." Natsuki looked at the old man, who reflected as the Third Hokage in her eyes. A man she never knew, until Kurama showed her the history of Konoha. "It has been passed down like that since ancient times! Someday, one will arise who will change the world, and shoulder centuries of history. Sengoku, you and the world government fear the great war that will come to this world one day! I'm not interested in the treasure, but when it's found, the whole world will be turned upside down! Someone will find it. That day will come."

Whitebeard took a deep breath to announce to the world.

"THE ONE PIECE DOES EXIST!" Whitebeard took his final breath, and Natsuki shed a tear for a man she never knew.

In a blink of an eye, the news was spread through the whole world. The Whitebeard Pirates failed to save Roger's son, Ace, and lost their captain, Edward Newgate. The great historical event was spoken of for generations to come, but those who witnessed it with their own eyes, could only stare in silence...

The silence was disrupted by the admirals waking up. Akainu used his magma, trying to kill or at least capture as many of the escaping pirates as possible, but what made things even worse, was when Blackbeard did something not known to any person or written in any book. He used his devil fruit ability, creating a black hole which consumed everything. Then, he made a stance which every crew of the Whitebeard pirates knew.

He hit the atmosphere, and it cracked, sending tremors everywhere.

"ZEHAHAHAHA! IT'S THE GRAVITY OF DARKNESS THAT TURNS EVERYTHING INTO OBLIVION! AND THE POWER OF THE EARTHQUAKE THAT DESTROYS EVERYTHING! NOW I HAVE IT ALL! I AM INVINCIBLE! I AM THE GREATEST!" He laughed maniacally. "MY ERA BEGINS!"

Blackbeard continued his attack on the Marine ford, not caring if it were the pirates who suffered along with the marines. Meanwhile, Luffy was still unconscious, carried away by Jimbei. Akainu went after him, and punched a magma fist through Jimbei's body, burning Luffy's stomach.

"NO!!!" Natsuki leapt away from Fuyuki's hold, and jumped in front of Akainu. She felt her chakra near to nothing, but Luffy behind her gave her strength to protect him.

Luffy was thankfully carried away to another pirate's submarine, and she face her opponent without the worry of losing another brother.

"Striking Vixen! You will regret this day for the rest of your life if you still survive!" Sakazuki yelled, and tried to punch her, and Natsuki closed her eyes, waiting for the impact, but suddenly, she was covered in a golden cloak. For some reason, his magma didn't penetrate this gold aura she now had. She knew that what Kurama was doing would damage her, but.

Natsuki felt warm and strong. She opened her eyes and sobbed, the flame like cloak reminding her of her younger brother.

 **"Be strong Natsuki. Be strong for Luffy, for Ace, for Sabo."** Kurama whispered, and she smiled. She felt the power surging from her, as her 'cloak' grew and grew, until in the middle of the battlefield stood a giant golden fox with nine tails. **"Natsuki, you're tired. Let me take control."**

"Promise you won't destroy the place?" Natsuki asked, but she could already feel her consciousness slipping away.

**"I won't, well, maybe a little. But I promise not to harm a single pirate."**

"Al-alright then... Go on..." Natsuki fell asleep, and Kurama took charge. He refilled Natsuki's chakra and healed her wounds, and turned to the marine soldiers trembling in fear, as they tried to shoot something which had no physical matter, since it was just chakra.

Kurama chuckled and stretched his shoulders and legs. He hadn't done this in a while. He opened his mouth wide, and made a large, grey whirling orb.

At first, everyone was confused, until Kurama shot it at the ground, far from the deceased Edward Newgate, but enough to break the rest of Marine ford.

The destruction was immeasurable. It ripped through everything. It passed the island Marine ford was on and dissipated above the ocean.

Silence followed by screams and yells were all that could be heard. The seasons looked at their captain in awe. She was far stronger than any of them.

Her unconscious state worried them, and they swore to get stronger for her sake, to see the day when they no longer saw their captain's back in front of them, and could hold their own in a fight, with their own lives.

Kurama was on a rampage, traumatising soldiers by 'squashing' them. He made smaller bijuu-dama's and hit them at the marine admirals and Sengoku, except Garp, who was crying at the corner of the battlefield, reminiscing in all memories with Ace.

A few minutes later, another pirate and his crew arrived, causing turmoil once more.

"It's Shanks!"

"The father of the Striking Vixen!" Shanks didn't expect that comment. He looked at the destruction, then at the massive beast in the middle of the disorder.

He walked towards it, and strained his eyes, finding a body, floating in the beast's head. He recognised her red hair and katana and spoke to the fox. He also vaguely recognised the fox with nine tails. The clone Natsuki made when she told him her story so so long ago was picturing a small fox with nine tails just like this. But this fox was much larger than that plushie sized fox. 

"Are you Kurama, by any chance?"

 **"You're Shanks. Natsuki's new father?"** Kurama asked, his attention now on Shanks.

"I like to think of myself to have been her father all the time, but I guess you know the blasted Hokage." He replied.

**"Yes, well, I had a look through her memories to catch up with this world, and she seems to be very happy with you as her father, so I have no complains."**

"May I have her back?"

 **"Yeah. I did say I won't kill anyway."** Kurama's body shrank and shrank, and Natsuki's body was left on the ground. Shanks walked towards her and kissed her forehead.

"Hello princess." He rubbed her shoulder, and assessed the area. His eyes darkened when he saw Whitebeard's standing corpse. Then, he tried searching for Ace's haki, and his eyes turned even darker when he found no one.

People began collapsing around him, even some of the pirates as Shanks' shoulders trembled in anger.

"Who?" Natsuki asked sleepily when she sensed the amount of haki surrounding her.

"Long time no see princess."

"Dad!" She hugged his neck with all her might. She then started to cry again. "I lost him. I lost another brother... I wasn't strong enough..." She cried into his shoulder, dampening his shirt, but he didn't mind.

"Let it all out princess. Let it all out." He stood up, and the two of them slowly made it back to Shanks' crew. 


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I go crazy when I think of you  
> I lose control and I fall down low.  
> I can't think with logic,  
> But you always seemed to know.
> 
> I thought back, and you were always there.  
> Lurking in the corners of my mind I never saw.   
> You shined the sun into those corners,  
> Gifting it with the emotions that were so raw.
> 
> So now you're gone,   
> What did you think would happen.   
> Think that we'd function  
> In this world we're trapped in?
> 
> Our only ray of hope is now forever gone,  
> So wait for us in heaven where happiness is postponed.
> 
> -noelicoan

"Zehahahaha! Shanks!" Blackbeard laughed, appearing, now that the powerful beast was gone. His cowardly acts disgusting everyone. "Did you defeat that beast? It seems to be gone, but thanks!" He laughed, the horrid stench called his existence still hanging in the air.

 **"That beast you speak of wasn't defeated mortal! So shut up before I bite your head off!"** Kurama growled, speaking through Natsuki, whose eyes turned blood red and slitted, her voice a few octaves lower and gruff. Blackbeard took a few steps back.

"So is that your daughter? Isn't she a beauty?" Shanks growled, and one of Kurama's eyes appeared again, giving her a heterochromia look.

" **D** o **n** 't **y** o **u** d **a** r **e** T **e** a **c** h **!** " Father and Fox spoke as one, and Natsuki felt safer than ever, wondering why pirates had to be this way. She knew so many who were kind and good-natured, yet she new an equal amount of awful horrendous pirates, such as the Necrophilic Pirates and the Blackbeard Pirates. It was the same with marines as well. Like the ones who robbed her brother today, and the ones like her grandfather.

Teach cowered in fear, and ran off secretly with his new crew. 

For once, Shanks didn't care.

"Natsuki!" She heard a familiar voice yell, and she smiled, turning towards a man in a blue hoodie, holding a crooked stick.

"Hullo Fuyu. You alright?" She asked tiredly. Her eyes were half-shut, and she fell right into Fuyuki's embrace.

"I'm fine! But you!" He asked her worriedly, and soon the rest of the seasons joined, ignoring the two famous pirates behind her, running straight to their captain.

"We were so worried! Doctor's orders! No more fighting!" Uki yelled, using her rain to wash away the blood stains in her clothes.

"Since when were you the doctor?" Natsuki chuckled and closed her eyes. She didn't open them after a few seconds, and Winter bounced her slightly, only just finding out that she had fallen asleep.

"Why don't you come on our ship. We can catch up after she wakes up." Shanks offered, and only then did the seasons notice him.

"You're Natsu's dad!" Haruki exclaimed.

Aki punched his gut, and Haruki rubbed the spot, mumbling something about mean sisters and stupid plant growers.

"Sorry for his rudeness." Aki apologised, glaring at Spring before she turned her face into a smile.

"I don't mind! But let me take care of this mess first." Shanks' face turned serious as he turned to the broken Marine ford and it's soldiers. The men stared at the destruction with awe, muttering rumours as they pointed at Natsuki, who remained in Fuyuki's embrace.

Akainu, who tried to jump to Natsuki again was stopped by a young Marine Soldier, with pink hair, a green bandanna with round glasses on his head.

"LET'S STOP THIS! STOP FIGHTING!! IT'S A WASTE OF HUMAN LIFE!" He exclaimed, thinking of each and every soldier who had a family waiting for them back home. "WE'VE LOST IN THIS WAR! WHY KILL MORE PEOPLE WHEN YOU CAN JUST GIVE UP, SAVING THOUSANDS! CAN'T YOU HOLD YOUR PRIDE AND EGO DOWN FOR EVEN A SECOND TO SAVE THOSE LIVES!!??""

"Who are you? You've cost me precious seconds. A soldier who doesn't serve justice has no place in the Navy!" Sakazuki yelled, his hands dripping magma.

Coby, a young marine soldier who worked hard to get his place, shut his eyes hard, accepting his fate of death.

He waited more seconds, but the blazing hot impact didn't come. He slowly opened his eyes, to see a sword protecting him. He looked up to a man with red hair, three claw marks on his left eye, and only one arm.

"Well done young man. For better or for worse, those few seconds of courage will profoundly influence the fate of this new world." He said. "Akainu. I once told you to mark my words That you would regret killing my wife. That one day you will watch the world burn. And for once the flames will not quell to your will. For once the flames shall eat you whole, and whoever watches you burn, can look on without remorse." Shanks stared at him hatefully. "I never forgot that. Did you?"

Akainu screamed as the golden flames took over Natsuki one last time as it began to burn him. His last thought was of wonder. Wonder if it was karma that he died the same way he killed the girl's mother.

No. Not the same way, when the girl was barely conscious, yet he had killed her in his name.

Sakazuki died with an expression of wonder.

Kizaru trudged up, holding his stomach with multiple wounds inflicted by Natsuki. He tried to attack Natsuki's father, but a voice stopped him first.

"Don't move, Kizaru."

"Woah woah. Benn Beckman..." the world finally noticed the arrival of the famous pirates.

"That ship! Why are one of the Four Emperor's here!?"

"IT'S RED HAIRED SHANKS!"

"I've come, to put an end to this war!!" Shanks announced, picking up Luffy's hat which had fallen during battle. "Buggy! Give that to Luffy!"

"Huh? Your Straw hat?"

"I have a treasure map I want to give you..."

"R-really!? Hold on! I'll take it to him right now!!" he flew off, leaving his feet behind.

"Boss! It's been ten years since you last saw Luffy! Shouldn't you go see him?" Lucky Roo asked, munching on a slab of meat.

"I wish I could." Shanks was thinking back to his memories, remembering the promise he made with Luffy, that Luffy would only give it back to him, when he had become a great pirate. "To see him now, would violate our agreement. Right, Luffy?"

"Ice Age!" Aokiji yelled in desperation to capture the Straw hatted pirate, but his attempt was futile, the submarine no longer in the reach of his ice.

"NO TREASURE MAP!??? YOU LYING JERK!" Buggy tried to strangle Shanks, who dodged his question.

"I was in a hurry. Anyway, it's been a long time Buggy."

"Don't give me that! Don't forget, I still hold a grudge against you Shanks! You used me as your errand boy!!" Buggy complained as his followers silently fanboyed about their captain.

"Shanks!" Marco called.

"Marco, stop fighting and retreat." He ordered. Meanwhile, Mihawk had awakened from the state Natsuki put him in, and noticing his rival's appearance, walked away despite the disagreeing voices.

"I agreed to fight Whitebeard, but I never agreed to fight red Haired Shanks." came his blunt reply.

Shanks opened his mouth, his overwhelming presence shutting them all up.

"Everybody listen. Withdraw now and allow me to save Ace. We'll see to the burial of Whitebeard and Ace. You've already broadcast the battle throughout the world. I won't allow you to go on, making a spectacle of their deaths." He glared at Sengoku and Sakazuki in particular.

"I don't mind!" the fleet admiral yelled back, despite his men's protest. "That's fine by me, Red head. I'll take responsibility for this."

"Thank you." Shanks replied, even though he himself wanted to lunge at the man who killed his captain's son... his daughter's brother.

"Hurry up and treat the wounded! THIS WAR IS OVER!!!" Sengoku announced, and the people hadn't an idea whether to celebrate or not. The war was over. Whitebeard was dead, and the past pirate king's son was dead, yet what they had seen through the screen told a different story.

The story of the pirates they never thought they'd see. The story of a beautiful sibling relation. The story of a sister avenging her brother.

It told them that they weren't some other-worldly people, that pirates weren't all heartless, and had family and emotions just like themselves. 

Much was learnt that day.

But the threat was still undoubtedly there. Six warriors who fought like the god of war itself, especially the captain, the daughter of the sea emperor, Shanks: The Striking Vixen.

She was a threat that nobody had expected to rise so quickly. Her presence was subtle compared to the rest of the pirates, with a small number of crew mates and inconsistent rise of bounty, appearing and disappearing out of nowhere. She was a threat which was simply, _there._

Today she proved otherwise. She was one of the strongest out there. The whole of her crew was. Her enormous figure as a fox. Her power to beat the strongest swordsman and an admiral within a second. Her connections with all famous pirates.

To anyone, she would pose as a threat. Anyone who didn't see her as a threat were either her family, or the dumbest people in the world.

* * *

Later in the day, the whole of the ex-Whitebeard Pirates, along with the Red-Haired Pirates and the Seasonal Pirates stood in front of the two graves of Whitebeard and Fire Fist Ace. All except Natsuki.

She stayed behind, wanting some time alone to grieve for her brother, and so that she could visit her brother's grave when there was no one there.

She left her father's cabin and appeared in the middle of the sea nearby.

 **"AAAAAAAAAARRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"** She yelled, punching the water beneath her. The water, as if it were contained until a few seconds ago, with a fatal hit from Natsuki, burst, making a massive geyser in the middle of the sea.

The pirates on the island had no idea what was going on when a massive wave of water splashed onto the island, draining the devil fruit users' strength.

Breathing heavily, she lay on the surface of the water, glaring at the sky, as if looking directly into Ace's eyes.

"You fucking idiot!" She yelled, not caring when the tears rolled off her face.

_"I'm sorry Luffy, Natsuki... I'm sorry you didn't get to save me... I'm sorry."_

"Why should you be the one who's sorry! I was the one who was powerless! I was the one who wasn't smart! I was the one who didn't notice quickly! I'm the one who should apologise!" She yelled, looking up to the sky, remembering her last moments with her younger brother.

_"Nobody wanted me. It couldn't be helped..."_

"I wanted you! You're my brother! Why wouldn't I!? You're such a... you're such an idiot..."

_"If you ever see Makino again, please give my regards...huff...Dying makes me nostalgic of people I knew a long long time ago... But there's one thing I've left undone... I wasn't able to see your dreams through the end... But you... I know you can do it... You're my little brother! You're Natsuki's, Sabo's and my little brother... We know you can do it! Natsuki, I'm sure you'll be greater than any pirate out there! You're my pride! Just like you are Luffy!"_

"You should've told Makino yourself! You should've travelled the entire world and told her yourself! You should've been there to see Luffy become Pirate King! You should've been there to see me be greater than any pirate out there!" She let out a strangled sob. "YOU were my pride! You all were! MY pride!"

_"Just like how I swore back then... I have no regrets!"_

_"What I really wanted wasn't fame... All I wanted to know was whether or not I should've been born... Huff! I can't even shout anymore... Luffy, listen to my next words carefully...huff...Tell everybody what I say to you."_

"You never go-got the chance... you never got the chance to tell the world how wrong they... how wrong they were! You never proved to the world that you weren't your father! You never surpassed me! You liar!!!"

_"Pops and Fellow Pirates! Luffy, Natsuki. I've always been such a helpless person... huff, huff... I was demon spawn... The son of a devil!"_

"No... No you weren't..."

_"Thank you... For loving me!"_

_**"AAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"**_ She screamed and screamed, the skies turning grey as lightning crackled and thunder boomed, crying down on her, no such thing as apathy in the rain they poured.

She cried with the heavens, sending the ocean into turmoil as it began to turn and churn, hiccoughing as it cried as well. The hiccup sent Natsuki under water, but she didn't care. She slowly sank to the bottom of the ocean, watching the sun slowly get eaten by the sea, and spit out the moon once it soothed the heat of the sun.

Holding her breath, she looked up to the sky from a kilometre under the surface, closing her eyes as she let the oxygen in her lungs slowly let her float to the top.

She stayed at the surface for a while, drenching wet.

When the moon came directly above her head, she decided it was time to visit her brother. 


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lives are like wisps of smoke in the sky.  
> They dance and twist, and in a moment, gone.   
> Once they vanish, all one can do is cry,  
> And flail about and deny and groan.
> 
> The bud ends and the smoke dies.   
> The person sighs and their lives move on.   
> Whether one takes another, is up to them and their sighs,  
> But don't come crying when you get cancer, because you couldn't move on.
> 
> -noelicoan

"Hello Ace. Sorry about my tantrum earlier, but when I die, prepare for a whooping because I haven't forgiven you for dying yet." She warned, smiling weakly when she saw his hat and knife.

She took the knife and the belt, touching it fondly, and asked the person hiding behind her to come out.

"So you're Ace's older sister huh?" Marco said, slowly walking up to her. She just nodded, looking back at Ace's grave. "He talked about you a lot you know. Along with his two brothers. How you were always stronger than him, and how he was going to surpass you one day. Think he surpassed you?"

"If that was all it took to keep him alive. For him to keep chasing his dreams. I would be the strongest person on this earth to keep him in this world." Natsuki told him, sitting down in front of Ace. She touched a storage seal on her arm and brought out four red cups along with an expensive bottle of sake. She offered the three cups to Ace and glugged the portion in her own cup.

"That how you became siblings?" Marco asked, without questioning her method of getting the cups and alcohol.

"Nine years. I was only his sister for nine years, but I know, his time had come. Just like everybody else's time comes. I know mine isn't today, and no matter how angry I am at him, I bet he'll somehow be angrier than me if I killed myself today." She laughed and gave herself more of the sake. She offered the rest to Marco, who gladly accepted. "Where's your crew by the way?"

"We decided to disband our group with the promise to meet when in trouble."

"What are you going to do?"

"I dunno. That peaceful life with a family and a wife doesn't sound too bad now." He said fondly.

The rest of the night was spent with Marco and Natsuki drinking and talking about Ace, and for once, Natsuki wished her metabolism wasn't this good at keeping her sober.

She wanted to be drunk. To forget everything. To let everything loose, but Kurama knew better. If he let her be drunk, who knows what'll happen. Probably a few dead men and a couple of island's disappearances.

"Take it." Marco slurred at around four in the morning.

"What?"

"His stuff. I'm sure he would've wanted you to have it." Marco said after jumbling the words a few times.

"Hm? You really think?"

"Yeah. He would've wanted to fight with you rather than stay at this soppy place." Marco laughed, and Natsuki smirked as well, threading her new belt around her kimono. She placed her holsters for her revolvers on each side, and tied Kusanagi as well. She put the hat on, but then decided that they didn't match with her kimono, so she went to change her wardrobe slightly, unsealing one of the outfits her grandfather bought her when he was pampering her.

She laughed at the memory, knowing that it was no use trying to force herself to drown in regret. That wasn't something Ace would wish for.

She pulled out a long-ish shirt/short-ish dress that reached her thighs, and tied Ace's belt around her torso. She then got out a pair of long garter socks, with brown boots, and to keep it still look kind of modest, she wore a much longer red jacket . She placed his hat on her head, made a simple clone and smiled.

Marco, now dead tired, fell asleep, as Natsuki magically changed, and morning came. The sun had risen, and she drank a final cup to her brother.

"Rest in peace, Portgas D. Ace. May you be forever known as Fire Fist Ace, the brother of Straw Hat Luffy, Sabo the Revolutionary, and Akagami D. Natsuki, the Striking Vixen, but above all... Let your name be known as the man who burnt the skies with passion." She kissed his grave goodbye, and set her cup on his grave, leaving it empty.

* * *

"Long time no see Natsu."

"Long time no see Benn. How've you been. You certainly look older." She snickered, pointing at his grey hair.

"Your father's not good medicine for stress I'm afraid. Now, tell me your adventures!" Benn joked, knowing she didn't need anymore of the 'are you alright?' nonsense.

"I haven't had that many adventures you know... Only one each for every crew I have! I also went back to my last world yesterday!" She smiled, sitting next to her uncle, gazing at the rising sun.

The two pirates talked for another few hours, and gradually, more and more pirates. Her family, came to join her, to listen to her stories. Amongst them were the seasons as well, and Fuyuki was greatly reminded of the time their crew was just the two of them.

"You left me all out on story time?" Came Shanks' yell of disbelief.

"Should've woken up earlier old man!" Natsuki yelled back to her father.

"How come she's talking to captain so casually?" A new recruit of the Red-Haired Pirates asked, and Natsuki turned to her.

"What do you see when it comes to similarity between him and myself!" She asked the woman.

"You've both got red hair, and you've both got the same facial structure. You also laugh in the same way." Came her diligent reply.

"Well observed. What's your name!" She laughed.

"Isabelle."

"Well, Isabelle, your captain is my grandfather you see." Natsuki joked, patting her father's back. "I just came to check whether he was dead or not."

"HEY! I am your father and you know that very well thank you!" Shanks pouted. Isabelle stared at them wide eyed.

"How come I've never heard of this before?"

"Because you were on guard duty yesterday, and didn't hear what the marines were saying, and Shanks used to get depressed every time we mentioned her." Yasopp teased his captain.

"Did you really? Well I missed you too dad!" Natsuki swung her arms around her father and whispered. "Have I lived up to yours and mum's reputation?"

"You've done ten times better than I ever would've expected baby girl." Shanks patted her head, sinking his face into her shoulder as she did the same.

"How's everyone been?" She asked, after walking to her own crew, so that they didn't feel excluded.

"Well! Other than those occasional times when Shanks would drink the place dry and start crying about how he missed his daughter! I think we've been fine!" Lucky Roo laughed, pulling a large chunk of meat off the bone.

"Enough about me whining! Natsuki! Introduce us to your crew!" Shanks swiftly turned the topic off of him, and though Natsuki noticed, she let it go.

"Hell no! Do you know how many of you there are! Why not you introduce yourselves one by one to us!" She waved at her father's crew which consisted of at least fifty pirates.

"Alright. Well, I'm Shanks, but I think you already knew that. I'm your captain's father, and one of the four emperors of the sea." He smiled.

Another hour later of introductions and the Seasons mumbling names under their breath to remember them, it was Natsuki's crew's turn.

"Welp, as you know, I'm Natsuki, and I'm your captain's daughter. I'm the Striking Vixen, and this is my crew!"

"My name's Kurama Fuyuki. I'm her first mate and who the marines call Jack Frost." Shanks glared at him hard, but he didn't flinch. Shanks let out a satisfied smirk.

"You chose well Natsu. How have you been? Learn any more Haki?" Shanks smirked at his student whom he taught all those years ago.

"Of course. How could I not when I have your daughter as my captain." Fuyu smirked.

"I'm Aki. I'm the Forest Fighter. I specialise in different forms of taijutsu." She informed them shyly, and the men wolf whistled, raising a blush on Autumn's cheeks.

"I'm Haruki! I'm the Ryokuryuu! I can camouflage myself to look invisible, and I don't really specialise in anything, though I can use a sword, gun and haki equally, and pretty well if I may say."

"I'm Kanki, and I am the Drying Desert. As I tell every single person I meet, please don't take off my gloves if you don't want to die very slowly and painfully. I can dry any liquid from anything, so you'll turn into a pile of ashes if I touch you properly with my hands." He warned, and the crew took a gulp of their fear.

"Don't look so scared! Geez. Well, my name is Uki, and I'm the Raining Miracle. I can make anything, as long as it's liquid, rain, on what, who, when and where I wish." Uki introduced herself finally, and Natsuki smiled. She was truly content with her family.

There was a distinctive squawk from the News coo, as it flew down to deliver the day's news, together with the new bounty posters.

"The Marines have been working quickly haven't they!" they passed the paper around, catching a few words of some of the articles announcing the death of Whitebeard and Ace, though what infuriated them was what the reporters had the nerve to say.

" **The tragic death of one of the world's most renowned pirates,** **Whitebeard** **has affected a great amount of people. Pirates have surged forward, trying to take land which they used to own, and is causing mayhem throughout the seas!"**

**"Victory of the Marines!"**

**"Defeat of one of the four Emperors of the sea! Who will take his place!?"**

Stupid headlines littered the pages, and the Pirates blanched at the disgusting attitude the Marines decided to take.

"Oi! Natsuki! Your crew and you've all got new bounties!" Jack, another one of Shanks' crew yelled, throwing the pieces of paper to them.

"Oh my god..." Natsuki sighed. She sure has got the attention of the citizens now...

"Yeas!!! I'm not in last place!" Uki exclaimed, and Haruki sank to the ground, growing mould in the corner of Shanks' ship.

"Good luck next time Uki. You still haven't passed my bounty!" Kanki boasted.

"How come yours is so high!" Uki pouted.

"Well, I was being really flashy. Maybe that's it." He admitted.

"Natsu! Next time don't assign me to healing duty! I'll do that at the same time as fighting!"

"Alright alright..."

"What did you get!?" Shanks exclaimed, trying to look over her shoulder to see. She hid it away, but Fuyuki snatched it.

"Oh... Wow." Fuyuki placed his bounty on the floor, and lowly, the rest of the seasons did the same. Finally, He placed down Natsuki's price, and they all gaped at the price.

"We'd be so rich Natsu, if we handed you to the marines, got the money, and you broke out of Impel Down, and we keep doing it until the Marines are broke." Haruki said in awe, still looking at her bounty.

"I'd do that, if it weren't for the risk of Ojii-chan getting fired." Natsuki smiled, roughing up his hair.

"Do you think you'll become the fourth emperor soon?"

"I don't know Aki, but let's hope so, so that you can each grant your own dreams." Natsuki grinned at the five seasons, and gladly looked at the people around her. All smiles and happiness, when she remembered Luffy.

"I am such a bad sister..." Natsuki said and disappeared from her father's ship. 


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The help you receive  
> Should be there, hiding subtly  
> Not forced upon you,  
> So that you'd leave abruptly.
> 
> But please notice,  
> That hiding, subtle help.  
> It is there for you,  
> Not for your strangled yelp.
> 
> -noelicoan

She appeared on an island near to where her ship was anchored, to a sight she never wished to see again.

"GO AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Natsuki jumped, thinking he was yelling at her, sighing in relief when she found it was at Jimbei. She cursed at herself for thinking that way, but she was feeling such a jigsaw of emotions, she had no idea what to feel anymore.

"I can't do that. I won't let you go on hurting yourself."

"IT'S MY BODY! I'LL DO WHAT I WANT WITH IT!" Luffy growled back.

"That's what Ace thought too. He died because he did what he wanted with his body."

"SHUT UP!" Luffy looked up to the sky, glaring hard at it, like Natsuki had done a few hours before. "ONE MORE WORD AND I'LL PUNCH YOU!"

"Go ahead if that's what it takes to calm you down. I'm injured as well, but I won't lose to the likes of you in this state." Jimbei replied with cold sympathy.

Luffy immediately tried to punch Jimbei, key word being 'tried'.

Jimbei, with far more experience and skill, immediately had him on the ground.

Whilst Jimbei was lost in his thoughts of his conversation with Ace at jail, Luffy bit hard on his arm, forcing Jimbei to release Luffy.

"Ow! That hurt you brat!" Jimbei pushed Luffy to a rock, holding him by the neck. "Are you blind to everything now!? Where's your confidence that you can overcome anything!? What happened to that strength you never doubted!?"

"I lost it when I was defeated by a giant wall..." Luffy replied with the seriousness he never showed before.

Something in his voice triggered tears to fall. Natsuki wiped them away from her eyes but looking at her broken brother made them fall more quickly than ever.

She almost stepped in, but he had to solve this himself, and she wasn't the hand he needed to be pulled up. Jimbei would be the one.

"Don't think of what you have lost Luffy. Count them. What do you still have?" Luffy sank to the ground and remembered.

"Luffy!" Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky and Brook called out. All with smiles on their faces as they yelled for their captain. He counted each one in his memories.

Luffy smiled as they appeared one by one, tears falling and melting into the soil.

"I have my friends. I have my crew!" He finally realised, then remembered the promise he made. "We promised to meet up someplace. I have to go there."

Natsuki then suddenly remembered the time difference their world and her last world had. Years for her was months to them... Then perhaps months for her was weeks, weeks for her was days and days for her were hours... She'd have to test that theory.

...Then that meant that she was gone for a month...

So much had happened within that time frame. She looked back to her brother, who cried out, wanting to meet the family he created from scratch.

Natsuki wanted to run to him so that he could meet him, when she suddenly felt a notorious man enter her minimal sensory field that she kept up at all times.

She hid her chakra and climbed up a tree on silent foot, erasing her very existence.

Luffy was carried away by Jimbei and she followed them, leaping through the trees.

"Old man Rayleigh!?" Natsuki was dumbfounded. How did he know the Dark King Rayleigh?

She watched as they talked like old friends, wondering what Ace would think if he found out Luffy was friends with his father's first mate. A man he detested, but then again, Luffy did have the ability to make friends with almost anyone.

Natsuki was even more surprised when she saw the male-hating Boa Hancock blush at the sight of her younger brother. Who else does this boy know!?

"I wanna see my crew!" Luffy said bluntly after eating the food the snake princess provided.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" This question drew the attention of everyone present. "Don't you remember what happened to you on Sabaody Archipelago?"

Natsuki's clones searched through tabloid articles, and almost sobbed when she now knew that her brother lost his crew by the hands of Bartholomew Kuma.

"I have a suggestion. Whether you accept it or not is entirely up to you of course..." The plan was to have them train for two years, just like she had done over the last three years. "...Also, I know you're there, but who's there?"

Natsuki jumped out of the tree, and Luffy lunged to her.

"Natsu-nee!!! ACE! Ace is..."

"I know... Shh... shh... I know..." Natsuki combed his hair out of the bandages, slowly calming down her baby brother, wiping away a tear again.

"Striking Vixen? How did you get here? Unless you swam like me of course."

"I can't tell you. Though let's just say I have abilities of a devil fruit without eating one."

"Hm? Which fruit would it be, if you supposedly ate one?"

"I guess the nin nin fruit." She told him no more, sure that he would figure a good answer out, even if it wasn't close to the truth.

"Where were you!" Luffy yelled. "If you had been there earlier! Ace would've been alive!" He blamed her, and she didn't retaliate. It was her fault for not arriving earlier after all...

"Now now Luffy-kun. She was the one who freed your brother, defeated two of the strongest men on this earth, and helped finish this war. How could you blame her?" She sent a glare to the dark king, but turned back to Luffy, who's sobs calmed down in her embrace.

"Sorry Natsu-nee..."

"Luffy, how could I blame you for hating me? I would hate me too, considering how I could've arrived so much earlier..."

"Why did it take you so much time?" Luffy rubbed his eyes, and they lit up when he saw Ace's hat on her back, and his belt around her waist.

"I'll tell you later. Do you mind me taking Ace's things? Do you want it too?"

"Nah, it suits you. Besides, I already have my hat!" Luffy beamed at her, and Natsuki wiped away another tear.

"Thank you Luffy... Have you made the decision for what Rayleigh suggested?"

"Yeah. Can you take me there?"

"Of course. Rayleigh-san. Are you coming?"

"Coming where?"

"To cause havoc at Marine ford of course."

"Oh, so you've decided I see, but it'll take a few day's preparing. We need to get a ship, to get there, we need a code that your crew can understand..."

"Leave those two to me. Luffy, you were meeting in three days yes?"

"Yup!"

"But you want to meet up in two years instead?"

"Yeah!"

"Then why not copy Ace a bit? Remember his tattoo?"

"The one for Sabo?"

"That one. What if we write 3D, for three days, then strike through it, then put 2Y for two years, beneath it. Then it'll look a bit like you're copying Ace anyway."

"Ooh! That's a good idea!" Natsuki got out a calligraphy brush and black ink seemingly out of nowhere, and used it to write, ~~3D~~ 2Y on his left arm. It instantly dried, and as it was a sealing brush; it didn't rub off or smear either.

"Where on earth..?" Rayleigh was utterly confused. He was one of the smartest people around, with age teaching him myriads of things only philosophy could answer, but this girl. No answer could match the questions this girl seemed to be made of.

"So, are you coming?"

"How do you plan we go? We need a ship, which passes the calm belt."

"If you want a ship I've got one, but first let me get my crew." Natsuki disappeared, and Rayleigh's face made Luffy laugh.

A few minutes later, out of nowhere, six people materialised.

"So you want to do that, or shall I go get my ship as well?"

They chose to go on a ship after all.

On the Kaizoku-gunkan, the eight people rode to Marine ford, and the remaining troops there tried to capture them, but the faces present were enough to scare them away.

Luffy ran at the Ox bell, jumped onto it's pedestal and rang the bell sixteen times.

The news reporters took as many photos as possible, already thinking up possible headlines, but what sent them into a frenzy was when Luffy threw in a bouquet of flowers into the massive crack Whitebeard made before his death and bowed in respect as he took off his hat.

The newspapers only talked about that event for the next few days, and Natsuki personally made sure that Luffy's crew understood and deciphered Luffy's code. Zoro worried her slightly, but he managed it in the end.

"So, are you ready for training Luffy-kun?" Rayleigh asked him.

"Yeah!"

"About that Rayleigh-san. May I ask for you to train us as well? Of course, if you can't I would understand, and I may be extremely selfish, but..."

"I can train you, but with a price."

"I hope you aren't an expensive man Mr Rayleigh."

"Please, call me Rayleigh. My price is answers to my question. Your crew's powers can be answered, but yours? Full of mysteries that I still cannot answer. To answer all my questions truthfully, that is my price."

"...hmm. I understand. What would you like to know?"

Their training began, and Natsuki used a kagebunshin to send her father a message that she had begun training again, and received a reply as proof for her story to Rayleigh.

For two years the seasons and Luffy trained. Haruki, Uki and Kanki improved their haki control, and they each grew stronger. Strong enough that even Haruki, the supposed weakest of the seasons, could hold his own for thirty minutes battling against Rayleigh.

* * *

Two years later, Natsuki met Hancock for the first time. I must say, the amount of people who were surprised has never gone higher than that day.

"Who are these women!" Hancock ordered, pointing at Uki, Aki and Natsuki rudely.

"How rude of you. 'These women' are rather insulted right now." Uki joked, her sixteen year old self laughing at the faces the women in armour made.

"What's with this girl! How dare she speak to the Snake Princess that way!"

"Just because she's a princess she gets to speak the way she does? How is she any different from everyone else?" Haruki asked, surprising the women, who were used to the men falling in love with Hancock within a second.

"That is because I am beautiful!" Hancock replied, looking down on them from the highest position, making them all sweat drop.

"How dull." Fuyuki commented, turning back to Natsuki, whom he was talking to for the past few minutes.

"What did you just say, _man?_ " She asked sceptically.

"What this _man_ just said was, how dull you truly are, Snake Princess. What you're doing is no different to the Celestial Dragons." She shivered when she heard the name leave Winter's mouth.

"Don't you dare compare those demons to our sister!" Marigold yelled, trying to stab him with her massive guandao. She hit the ground beneath him as he simply floated up, his training resulting in him flying without the need of a small snow cloud beneath him.

"Now, now. Calm down. It's the first day of Luffy's freedom from training. Do we need to cause such a ruckus?" Natsuki asked, but things didn't settle for a while because of a single comment Sandersonia made.

"How come you get a say in this? You look so weak compared to the others." Immediately five seasons were at her face.

There was a hand in front of her face, the hand of a man with an eye patch, then there was another hand of a girl with long brown hair on the ground, the earth trembling as something tried to rise up against nature's will. There was a shard of ice and a droplet of water aimed at her head, and a younger boy had his gun aimed at her heart.

"It's alright! She's fine! Right Natsu?" Luffy tried, getting nowhere.

"Why do you defend her, dear husband!" Hancock shouted, momentarily forgetting her embarrassment with rage.

"Woah woah woah. First, Fuyu that was mean. You know the whole deal with the empress."

"She's just so arrogant..."

"Some people just don't bend the right way, and there's nothing you can do about it. Secondly, what's with all the over protectiveness!? Kan! Don't kill her! Same goes for the rest of you youngsters."

"But she called you weak..." They all complained, but a single look from her shut them up, and Haruki put his gun back in its holster. Aki withdrew her hands from the ground, Uki's water dissipated, and Kanki put his gloves back on. Fuyuki had already made his icicle disappear, but another warning look from Natsuki made him drop to the ground.

"And thirdly! What's with Luffy being your husband miss Empress!?" Natsuki asked, jumping right in front of Boa Hancock, the most beautiful woman alive, with millions of men to her mercy. The only woman of the shichibukai, and Empress of Amazon Lily.

"O-oh, did I really say that? Wait! How dare you order me around!" She stomped, pointing her finger straight at Natsuki's face.

"Why can't I? The only difference between us is the fact that you're an Empress of an island, and that you're one of the shichibukai, but aside from that, we're both women, who've had awful pasts, so can you get it past your ego to actually talk like a civilised person?" Natsuki lectured the woman seven years older than her.

"Who are you to have this confidence! Against _me!_ The most beautiful woman on this earth!"

"I'm your beloved Luffy's older sister, and so far you haven't made a very good impression." Natsuki tutted, as all blood left Hancock's face.

Ignoring her precious apologies, Natsuki just smiled at the women of Amazon Lily behind their empress, who had already begun spreading the rumours of their leader apologising. She never does that!

"Who are you really? You must be some sort of pirate to be the older sister of both Fire Fist and Luffy."

"I don't have to be a pirate to be the older sister of the little rascals, but I am one, yes."

"Who are you? We don't have much contact with the outside world."

"Hm? I'm the Striking Vixen. Fail to recognise?" Natsuki smirked at the flabbergasted warriors. They all stood there; shell shocked at the revelation.

Luffy, a funny, stupid sort of man that they all loved, had an older brother who was the son of a demon, and now an older sister, who had recently been revealed to be the daughter of one of the four emperors. That made her the princess of the sea!

"Y-you're the Striking Vixen? Akagami D. Natsuki? Captain of the seasonal pirates?" Hancock asked once she was finished with her speech of apologies.

"That's me!" the 24-year-old captain said, pointing at herself with fake excitement, jokingly acting as a toddler.

"Then you're the next emperor!?" an old lady asked, jumping into the scene from the side.

"What are you talking about Elder Nyon?"

"Yesterday, there was an announcement. The Marines have decided who will be the fourth emperor in Whitebeard's place. Striking Vixen, captain of the seasonal pirates, you are now one of the four Emperors' the Empress of the oceans!" Natsuki turned serious, and disappeared. She came back, appearing next to Fuyuki, a newspaper in hand.

**Marine Announcement! The Fourth Emperor! Or Rather Empress! Akagami D. Natsuki has taken Whitebeard's place on the ring of Emperors! see more on page 2-**

She glared at the paper angrily.

"What's wrong Natsu? Wasn't it your dream to become an Empress?"

"Yeah! But what do I do now? My dream has been granted..."

"You could always go back to your world..." Luffy mumbled, and their eyes lit up.

"That's true! But we need to be careful with the time difference." Uki said, her eyes sparkling with the thought.

"So is it decided? Are we going to the elemental nations?" Kanki asked, yawning at the thought.

"Why not? I mean, our dreams have basically been granted, other than Haru's but his is slightly odd." Aki joked.

"I am so hurt." Haruki said, fanning his face as if he was going to faint.

"Then I guess we're going." Fuyuki said with finality.

"Luffy, good luck with finding your crew! Also, I've modified your seal so that it would alert me whenever your blood levels have decreased beneath a certain point, so don't die on me okay? I'll be otherwise gone for a few years, so see y'all later!!" Natsuki grinned, and the seasons disappeared like a storm which just passed.

They reappeared on their ship, with a hundred guns pointed at their heads.

"Welp, looks like our trip will be delayed slightly seasons!" Natsuki said, her glare on a man standing behind the gunners. A man with a red tattoo covering his left eye.

"Hello Natsuki, I'm sorry I've had to take you like this." He apologised.

"Well, I'm sorry too Dragon, that I have to do this." 


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Born from nothing,   
> Is the child of remembrance.  
> Her existence there to calm,  
> With her nature and her fragrance.
> 
> She will live for those around her,  
> And the others live for her.  
> For what else does one live for?  
> Than for one another.
> 
> -noelicoan

Dragon braced himself, waiting for an attack given by his goddaughter. He blinked, then looked around to find all of his subordinates either frozen, burnt from acid, captured in a green cage, thinned down, or shot in the leg.

"What did you do!?" Dragon yelled, running over to one of the men who was shot by Haruki.

"Simply getting rid of the bad seeds of course." Natsuki casually leaned against the ship's main mast.

"I thought the daughter of Shanks and Tomomi would've grown with a kind heart. It seems to have betrayed me."

"Why think so?"

"Who in their right mind would shoot people just like that!?"

"Naive is what you are godfather. Besides, the ones Haruki shot are the government spies." Natsuki pointed out. Dragon quickly turned to the one resting by his feet, and found a mini sized denden mushi in his pocket, decorated with the familiar marine design. "Uki!"

Uki made her rain of healing fall, and the men who had suffered from their minor attacks gradually stood up, wondering if this were all a dream.

Aki trapped the marines, grew a massive station of grass on the sea, and dumped the prisoners there.

"So, why are you here godfather?"

"You know about Sabo, or so I believe."

"Yes. I respected his privacy when you didn't allow me to meet him."

"I'm sorry for lying, but he lost his memories after I found him floating in the middle of the sea. Also, how did he manage to make you believe he was dead at the time?"

"He did not have a pulse. I made sure of that. I think it was just his heart pumping a very low amount of blood, thinking it was near his own death. Besides, I was so stricken with rage and anguish, it is very possible for me to have missed a small, weak pulse. So, what makes you think that he can meet me now?"

"Ace's death... it triggered his memories to return. He remembers everything now. He wants to meet you, but he's currently on a mission at Dressrosa. I decided I would catch up with my best friends' daughter."

"Sure. Why not." Natsuki sighed, she hadn't had a good drink in ages. Her habits hereditary from both her father and mother.

The group of pirates and revolutionaries spent the rest of the day and night exchanging stories of their adventures, with both leaders conversing about each other's family, as they seemed to know each other's biological family more than each other.

Natsuki told Dragon the massive progress his son was making, and Dragon remembered his son and his wife sombrely. Both far from reach. One never to be met again until the story of his life ended.

Dragon told of her father and mother, tales of funny things they said or did, and the days of the past, two of the most wanted people on earth laughing at the jokes they said, drinking bottle after bottle, until they were completely and utterly wasted. Though of course, Natsuki remained sober, kicking herself and Kurama metaphorically at the blissful thought of getting drunk.

Natsuki's stress wasn't calming on it's own, with constant reminders of her brother's death, either by nightmares or simple things such as conversation between the seasons, reminding her of Ace.

She couldn't drink it off like her father often did, she tried working it off by doing too much training, but that only made her tired, and get nightmares of Ace dying in Luffy's arms again.

So what she started picking up over the course of these past two years was smoking.

Of course, she knew how bad it could affect her, but the calming feel she got from the nicotine was all she needed. The rest, though slightly disapproving, understood, and kept their mouth shut. It wasn't a surprise for a pirate to start smoking, with all they killed and fought, PTSD was normal. They would do anything to keep those memories away. 

_Anything._

Natsuki took out a cigarette, lit it on fire, using a simple katon to her finger, and watched as the smoke filled the night sky.

Even the sight of such small fire reminded her of Ace.

She sighed, then decided to go on a walk. Jumping off the ship, she landed on the water surface, strolling over the calm waves. She snapped her fingers once the cigarette was too short to burn, and it disappeared. She was about to take another, when she heard a faint cry.

Wondering what it was she was hearing, Natsuki jogged over to the source of sound, to find a small treasure chest, decorated with flowers. The sound was much more prominent now.

It was the cry of a child.

She opened the chest carefully, to find a small baby, no older than a year, crying for food. The baby stopped crying in surprise, boring into Natsuki night blue eyes with it's own. The baby girl had short tufts of silver white hair, with pale milky skin with rosy lips perked slightly in want of food.

She was very thin, akin to children of poor houses, but seemed healthy enough not to be in any immediate danger.

They were right at the edge of the calm belt, and she must have been sent away by a family too poor to raise her. Natsuki cradled the child, who snuggled into the warm embrace of summer.

"Smart baby. To cry when I was near enough to hear." Natsuki joked, not expecting the baby to accidentally nod, as if saying she cried aloud on purpose. "Is this Kami's will too? Does the mighty one want me to look forward? Forget the past?"

 **"Natsu. Don't think of it that way. Sure, I know how important Ace was to you, but the way you are now? It simply isn't healthy. You know the rest of your crew are worried!"** Kurama advised, talking to her mentally. **"You don't need to forget about Ace, but please. Stop smoking, drinking, fighting unnecessary fights like you did with your godfather's men today."**

"I'll try Kurama. I'll try, but why do you think Kami sent me this child?"

**"Perhaps for a new purpose in life? If this child depends on you, you cannot act recklessly for her sake."**

"Perhaps..." Natsuki sighed. All this thinking wasn't going to help her now. She quickly unsealed some milk from her food storage seals, and fed the baby, who drank it as if her life depended on it, which it probably did... "What shall I name you?"

Various names past her mind, and she finally decided on one. Looking at the possible purpose of the baby to her life, and the flowers on the chest, Natsuki whispered.

"Asuka. Your name will be Asuka." A name similar sounding to Ace, but with the meaning of _tomorrow's bloom_ , Natsuki's daughter, Asuka was born. 


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love without lust.  
> Who would've imagined?  
> Such thing exists?  
> Yes, as it so happens. 
> 
> Our two main characters,  
> Who love without lust.  
> It isn't imaginary,  
> Just some 'fiction' you'd say.
> 
> If you must. 
> 
> -noelicoan

"Captain!?" Aki cried out in surprise, when she saw Natsuki walk on the water with a baby, and a small chest decorated with flowers. 

"Ah, Autumn. Perfect timing. Can you go get Fuyuki please? This is something that includes him as well." 

"Alright. I'll leave you two... three, for now, but I will be getting answers later. Understood?" She said good naturedly. 

A few seconds later, Natsuki was in her cabin, where she didn't sleep, but did all her work. She heard someone knock twice, thrice, then once. 

"Come in."

"What's this I hear about a baby?" He asked, floating in. 

"I found her. Kurama and I thought that she was possibly a gift from the gods. A distraction from my drinking and smoking of sorts." Natsuki said, but then she began to panic. "Oh my god! How am I going to raise a child!? I'm the last person you would go to for babysitting!!"

"Natsu. Calm down. Start from the beginning." Fuyuki said, motioning her to breathe in and out. 

"Okay... So, earlier, when I went to go on a walk, I heard a cry, and when I went closer, I noticed there were cries of a baby, coming from this chest." She started, gesturing at the flowery container the child was peacefully sleeping in. "I opened it up, and here I find a child who looks as if she could be the daughter of us two." 

The atmosphere became awkward, and I'm sure you'd be confused as to why they would be. 

Friends would've just laughed this off as a joke, but their situation was different. And to find out why, let us jump a year back, during the seasons and Luffy's training with Rayleigh. 

"Natsu, do you ever just wish for all this pirating to end. So you can settle down, and start a family or something?" he said one day. 

"No. Not really? why? Are you thinking of betraying me?" She said jovially. 

"No no no! Not in a million worlds! Just wondering. But why?"

"Didn't I tell you? Oh schnitzel. Well, you see... I'm asexual. I don't feel any sexual attraction to anyone. Therefore, I won't have kids, with my consent of course, unless someone decides to rape me. Which would result in one dead man and an embryo which wouldn't exist in the first place." she said simply. 

"Oh... oh!" Fuyuki seemed slightly disappointed by something, but he didn't show it clearly. It wouldn't be noticeable, with the exception of Natsuki, who had known him longest. 

"What's wrong?"

"Well, you see... I may or may not have liked you for four years?" He said, rubbing his neck incredibly awkwardly. He was planning on confessing, but his ideals were not at all similar to how it turned out, in any way shape or form. 

"You telling this to me now?" She said sceptically after a moment of silence. 

"Yeah..."

"Well, I do like you Fuyuki. You know I do. But I've got a full plate right now... Ace's died, Luffy and the rest of the seasons are depending on me... I don't think I can worry about a relationship as well..." 

"I know. That's why I didn't exactly want to tell you just yet..." 

"I really do appreciate your feelings Fuyu, and when my plate isn't as full, I may be able to be with you. But at the moment? I really, really can't."

"I understand. Tell me when your plate is empty alright? Cause I've been thinking that I may possibly be asexual too. So my feelings are completely based on your personality. I hope you can understand."

"I do. Thank you Fuyu. Friends for now?"

"Friends for now." They both shook hands, and that was that. 

So now, with a 'daughter' who looked like them, with ice white hair and night blue eyes, it was almost as if they really did have a daughter. 

"Did you name her?" 

"Yeah. She's Asuka."

"Nice name. Tomorrow's bloom. From the chest I'm guessing?"

"Yeah. I thought that she could be like a purpose to live properly. For that flower to bloom tomorrow. For Asuka."

"She's our daughter from now on. Yeah?" 

"Yeah. She's our daughter." Natsuki agreed, and rested their foreheads on each other's. 

* * *

"So guys, I'd like you to meet our daughter, Asuka!" Natsuki announced the next morning. Fuyuki, Asuka and Natsuki spent the night looking into Asuka's likes and dislikes. Simply by letting Natsuki transform into a type of colour, or even a type of food. 

Asuka seemed to be around one years old, and her birthday was decided to be the 25th of April. The day she was found. 

"Woah! She looks like a perfect blend of Winter and Summer!" Haruki said as a joke. 

"You mean as in Natsu and Fuyu? Or as in her skin colour and features and stuff? Care to elaborate?" Uki snarked. 

"Well, she does look like the daughter of Natsuki and Fuyuki, but then again, those two look like their own season represented as a human, so she looks like the mixture of the two seasons as well. I mean, she looks pale, but tan at the same time. How do you explain that!?"

"True." Kanki agreed monotonously. 

* * *

Two years had past. You might think that this went by quickly, and maybe for you, but for the seasons. It was a long, long, long two years. 

They had to learn how to calm tantrums, how to change diapers, how to get a child to behave. Everything! 

Aki, who had the most experience with children taught the others, but some were still afraid to touch her, even with gloves. i.e. Kanki. 

The girl grew up into a child who mainly spoke gibberish that only her mother and father could understand, and she seemed to be growing into an exact replica of her mother, in every way except her skin and hair colour, which never seemed to get darker as it usually did with most children. 

"Mummy! Mummy! Can I see Kura please!?"

"You really like him don't you?" Natsuki laughed, bouncing the small girl on her hip. 

"He's funny!" She giggled, remembering the giant fox she often dragged out from her mother's seal. 

Natsuki touched her stomach, and the seal shone dimly. The fox was pulled out, and hauled onto the deck of the ship, which was certainly large enough to hold the massive demon. 

"Natsuki! Why disrupt my perfect sle- oh... Hi Asuka...." Now, don't get him wrong. Kurama loved the small daughter of his 'sister', but sometimes she got a bit too... clingy. Yes, that's a good word. Clingy. 

The last few times he was out in the open, she pulled on his tails and his fur to keep him with her, and though he appreciated her affection. He wished for it not to be so physical. 

Whilst Asuka and Kurama played, Natsuki walked over to a den den mushi, and dialled a number. 

"Hello? Garp speaking."

"Hi Ojii-chan! Haven't talked to you in a while!" Natsuki pushed in before his rambles began. 

"A WHILE? A WHILE? You haven't spoken to me properly in three years! I tried to look for you, but I couldn't find you! Where were you? Go make a vivre card right now!" 

"That's a thought. And I'm sorry I couldn't talk to you in a while. I didn't want our calls to be traced by others, and I don't mind as much now. You see, I may or may not have a daughter?" 

The other end went silent. 

"Ojii-chan? Hello? Ojii-chan?" 

"Who is the father, and I demand you to put him on the phone right now." Natsuki shivered at the voice, and called out for Fuyuki to come to the phone. 

A few minutes later, Fuyuki stood by the phone, paler than usual, and handed the dial back to Natsuki. 

"I hope you didn't threaten him granddad. He didn't get me pregnant you know? We just adopted the child, since it looked like god wanted us to have her."

"Oh, then it's all fine. Tell him that my warning isn't valid anymore. Gahahahaha!" He laughed, and Natsuki let Fuyuki's colour return immediately. 

"Would you like to hear her voice?"

"Yes!!!!" Natsuki called her over, and her little hands took the receiver. 

"Hello? Who is this?" She asked in her light, petite voice. 

Nothing but sobbing could be heard from the other end, and Asuka looked at her mother, confused. 

"This is your great grandpa. What's your name?"

"Great grandpa!! Hello! I'm Asuka! I'm Nastuki and Fuyuki's daughter, and if you try to kill me, sell me, or be rough with me, your life is on the line mate." She replied with her well rehearsed lines that Kanki and Uki forced her to remember. 

"Well, I'm your family. So I would never do that my little princess." Garp replied, his cheeks reddening with happiness. 

"I thought I was your little princess!" He heard Natsuki's voice in the background, and he got a few shades greener. 

"Mummy! Stop teasing grandpa!" He heard his great granddaughter argue, and his protectiveness somehow managed to get stronger. "Well, mummy says that you need to get back to work, so bye bye!" 

Garp tried to argue, but the line was cut off, and he nearly cursed. 

Next time he'd just have to go meet her then. 


	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many are the joys in life.  
> I'm blessed with quite a few.  
> Still, most of all I'm grateful  
> To have a daughter just like you.
> 
> I remember well when you were born,  
> The joy that filled my heart.  
> When I first held you in my arms,  
> I loved you from the start.
> 
> It was always such a pleasure  
> To see your precious life unfold.  
> Learning new things every day  
> Brought happiness untold.
> 
> The child in you, I still can see.  
> A glimmer here and there.  
> The smile when you anticipate,  
> A tugging at your hair.
> 
> Though no one knows the future,  
> What each one has in store,  
> I know whatever happens  
> I couldn't love you more.
> 
> So on this special day of yours,  
> Know the love that's there for you.  
> Not just today, but every day,  
> Will last a lifetime through.
> 
> -Alora M. Knight

Asuka was fortunate and unfortunate at the same time. 

She was the daughter of the two strongest people around, the granddaughter of one of the strongest people in the world, the great granddaughter of some of the strongest people in the world, and the niece of the many strongest people in the world. 

Now, this made her train like hell. She would have a similar routine as her mother when she was young, from waking up early in the morning, or helping any crew member who was in charge of breakfast, to getting lessons from them on the different types of fighting they were used to. 

Today, she woke up at six thirty, and groggily opened her eyes to find both her parent's not there. Not worrying in the slightest, she clambered off the bed. After getting changed, she ran off to the kitchen, and found her mother in the kitchen. 

"Mummy! Is it your turn to cook!?"

"Yes it is darling. What do you want to eat today?" 

"Hmm. Pancakes!!" 

"Pancakes it is then." Natsuki smiled lovingly at her daughter, parting some of her unbrushed white hair to the side 

The mother and daughter went on to whisk the batter, and by accident, Asuka poured in the blueberries meant for later, into the mix. Giggling, they decided it was going to be blueberry pancakes. 

When the mixture began to sizzle on the pan, the door opened, letting the chilly morning air in. 

"Where are my two favourite girls?" 

"Here!" Asuka smiled up at her father. 

"What!? You can't be my daughter! You are far too big!" He laughed, pretending to struggle to lift her up. 

"Meanie!" Asuka pouted, and her father cooed at his gorgeous daughter. 

He lift her up with one swift pull, and placed her on his shoulders, tickling her tiddly little feet.

Shrieking at the contact, she tried to retract her feet from her father, but his iron grip never loosened. 

Soon a giggling mess, Natsuki scolded Fuyuki, and he put her down, laughing at her terrible attempt to punch him. 

Asuka too, was only joking. If she tried, she could land a solid hit on him, but who would do that to family? (except Garp)

"The pancakes are done! Go on Asu, go wake everyone up!" Natsuki urged her daughter, and she tottered off. 

Immediately, Natsuki and Fuyuki set off to prepare the place. It was their princess' tenth birthday today, and it had to be perfect or it didn't happen. 

The bunting was hanging, the table was set up, the pancakes were piled up, and the fruit was presented. 

Getting out the party hats and poppers, the two pirates awaited by the door. They had asked their crew to wake up as slowly as possible, and with their enhanced haki, they detected five presences coming closer to the kitchen door. 

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!" They yelled once the door creaked open. 

"I almost forgot!!!" Asuka beamed, and ran to give each of the crew a tight hug. 

Natsuki disappeared for a few moments, and came back with a tonne of people, whom she had dropped off on the deck. 

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" They all chorused their rehearsed sentence. 

Garp, Dragon, Shanks, Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky, Brook, along with a select few from Shanks' ship such as Benn and Yasopp. Sabo was there too, along with the orphans who were Aki and Uki's siblings. 

Kurama came out of his seal, and the whole family celebrated the little girl's birthday. 

Dragon, Shanks and Luffy laughed together with Natsuki and Sabo. Missing the man who used to be with them. Natsuki lowered her hat, one she claimed as her absolute treasure. 

It's red beads still glimmering like always. The orange fabric slightly faded, but it's fire resistant material strong as ever. The happiness and sadness masks at the front, also slightly less prominent than how it used to be, but still hanging there. 

She took off her belt and knife, smiling, reminiscing in the memories shared with Ace. 

A few hours later, the party found itself with Asuka asleep on Kurama's tail, the seasons all laughing with each other, Sabo and Luffy catching up with one another, same with Dragon and Shanks. 

Garp had to leave, and therefore Natsuki and Fuyuki could openly sit next to each other. 

Asuka smiled in her sleep. 

Her overpowered family came with danger as a package deal. Death was constantly hanging over her head, and injuries were a daily routine. 

But she would have it no other way. 


	36. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One day they'll write our epilogue  
> and I want it to say  
> that this pair stuck together  
> for all of their days.  
> They loved one another;  
> they made a great team,  
> they shared hopes and goals  
> and went after their dreams.  
> They weathered the storms,  
> made hay in the sun,  
> saw family and friends  
> and always had fun  
> but above all I hope  
> that when it comes to it  
> if asked to repeat time  
> we'd be happy to do it.
> 
> -Ms Moem

One day, a pirate would arrive on a far far island with her crew. 

The island would be peaceful and quiet, with green forests and vibrant plants, with roaring animals and graceful birds. Strange creatures would surprise them for being calm, and what would amaze them out of them all, would be a house in the centre of it all. 

With red brick walls and bright blue windows. It would have soft smoke trailing out of the chimney, and a scent of a good meal would drift from it's door. 

The pirates would bring out their weapons, sharpen their haki, and growl as they knock on the door, not daring to enter, even if it was opened wide. 

A look of wonder would mar their faces when a teenage girl with luminescent white hair would come to get the door. They will be on edge with their nerves as she invites them in, wondering if this were all a trap. 

"Welcome, those who have inherited the will of D." She would say, and the captain would smile, since her name had the D in it's centre. 

"Are you the gate keeper to keep the One Piece safe?" The captain asked. 

"Oh, no. That would be my mother. Come, follow me." The girl said mysteriously, walking across the room soundlessly. 

The crew found pictures littering the wall. Of a woman with flaming red hair and a man with snow white hair. Of a woman watering her garden, and a man posing for the camera, his arm invisible. Of a girl with a scowl as a man with an eye patch dropped a bucket of water on her. 

The captain immediately recognised the pictures, and managed to strengthen her guard even more. 

"Asuka, have the guests arrived?" The pirates heard a man call out. 

"Yes dad!" The teenage girl, now known as Asuka yelled back. "Please, to the garden. There is space for you all." 

The pirates walked out, to find a massive table shaped like a doughnut. With exactly forty-nine seats for them all. Additionally, there were seven seats at the end, with six people standing behind each seat. 

The girl ran off to them, and a woman walked over to them. 

"Greetings. The ones who have inherited the will of D. Before you reach the One Piece, care for a lunch with the Seasons?" 

"You... You're the Empress of the seas... The sister of the pirate king..."

"A title that you will receive soon I believe. Though third pirate king hasn't got quite a good ring does it? Why not, the first Pirate Queen." She smiled, gesturing them all to sit. 

"It's the Ryokuryuu! In person!" 

"Can't believe it... Raining Miracle..."

"The Drying Desert... Oh my god. He wears the eye patch like I do!"

"The Forest Fighter as well! I wonder if it's really true that she's mastered all types of martial arts!?"

"Jack Frost.... The husband of the strongest woman in the world." The woman with bright red hair burst into laughter. 

"Ha! Fuyuki! You're only known as my husband!!!" She gulled, gasping for air as she wiped a tear from her eye. The others snickered as well, some patting him on his shoulder with pity. 

The man himself just rolled his eyes. 

"Striking Vixen. It's an honour to meet you." The soon to be Pirate King bowed. 

"Please. Just call me Natsuki. This is Fuyuki, Haruki, Aki, Uki and Kanki. And before you ask, yes. These are our real names. Must have been God's wish for us to be pirates together." She smiled. Then, holding her daughter's shoulder, Natsuki smiled. "Lastly, this is my daughter Asuka." 

"We were expecting you. Sit down. We'll have lunch ready for you in an instant." Fuyuki said, and the pirates sat down in a stunned silence. 

Soon the ice broke, and the pirates drank and sang, laughed and danced. 

At the end of the day, Natsuki guided the captain to the furthest end of the island, where lay a chest. 

The captain walked over to it cautiously. 

"Oh, it's not booby-trapped." The captain opened the chest with slightly tense fingers, and stared at it's contents. 

"Is it?"

"It is." 

"But-"

"What you do with it is up to you. Three people before you have seen it and has decided against using it for themselves. Now, the decision is yours. What will you do with the ultimate treasure?" 

An hour passed and the captain's face softened. 

"Three great people before me have opened this chest and left the treasure behind. I too will leave this chest for the next to make their decision."

"You have made a great choice. This is not for the human's to use. Or one will only suffer from it's consequences. I hope you understand that."

"I do. Thank you Natsuki-san." 

"Thank you too." 

The captain of the ship returned to her crew, and they seemed to understand what had happened, and what caused her to go against her decision to take the treasure. 

"What happens after this captain?" 

"I don't know. Well, shall we leave their company first? Go home? Back to our families?" The captain somberly asked. 

"Well. Know that you are the third Pirate King. Or rather, the first Pirate Queen. I hope you have a great journey, and a brilliant adventure." Natsuki smiled, and bowed deeply, the others all doing the same in unison. 

Hearts and eyes welling up, the pirates finally felt complete. Finished. Done. Their dream was granted, and for now, that was all that mattered. 

They boarded their ship one last time, and with the seasons waving at them from the shore, they left, for a final adventure. 

An adventure for a life time had ended, and now they were off for one more.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_**-Fin-** _


End file.
